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Details emerge about young woman who died after falling overboard from cruise ship.

Details emerge about woman who died after falling from cruise ship

A young woman who died after falling overboard from a cruise ship off the South Australian coast was travelling with her mother.

A major search was launched when crew on the Pacific Explorer raised the alarm after discovering the woman had fallen overboard when the ship was about 70km off the coast of Cape Jaffa.

WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Young woman’s body found after falling off cruise ship.

SA Police later confirmed the missing 23-year-old, passenger had been found dead in the water about 7am Wednesday.

Footage from on board has emerged that shows the captain informing the passengers over a loudspeaker that a body had been recovered in the search area.

“There were some light shows happening at the time and those shows were stopped and people were told ... Most people were just shocked and couldn’t believe it. Some people were crying,” passenger Michael Arena told 7NEWS.

Passenger Ellie Schoulten said before the woman was found dead, there was a spotlight searching the ocean and sea was “really choppy and rough”.

“The mood around the ship is very sombre,” she said.

7NEWS understands the young woman who died was travelling on the cruise ship with her mother.

Teams searched through the night for the woman, with the Australian Maritime Safety Authority Joint Rescue Coordination Centre deploying search and rescue aircraft to the area on Wednesday.

A police spokesperson said PolAir recovered the 23-year-old’s body from the waters.

A Carnival Australia spokesperson said it was an “incredibly distressing situation” for the remaining guests and crew.

“We continue to provide care and assistance to the family member this guest was travelling with and extend our deepest condolences to their loved ones,” they said.

The cruise left Melbourne on Tuesday for a four-night return trip to Kangaroo Island.

The scheduled trip to Kangaroo Island will no longer take place and the ship will return to Port Melbourne early on Friday.

Carnival Australia says it will work with relevant authorities as Victoria Police investigates the woman’s death.

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Woman found dead after falling overboard from cruise ship off Florida

The Coast Guard recovered the body of a woman who fell overboard from a cruise ship that was returning to Florida early Thursday.

A 36-year-old woman, who was not publicly identified, was found 18 miles from the shore of Port Canaveral, according to the Coast Guard's Southeast district. She was on the MSC Meraviglia, which is owned and operated by MSC Cruises.

The company offering the woman's family condolences in a statement Thursday and explained that ship's "advanced detection systems" alerted staff members to an overboard passenger.

"The crew performed an immediate search and rescue operation, alongside the US Coast Guard who supported search efforts with boats and a helicopter," MSC Cruises said. "Unfortunately, despite the rapid rescue operation, the passenger sustained fatal injuries. We are offering our full support to authorities as they investigate this matter."

The Coast Guard is investigating why the woman fell and did not have additional details Thursday.

Doha Madani is a senior breaking news reporter for NBC News. Pronouns: she/her.

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Woman found dead after falling overboard from a cruise ship on coast of Australia

Australian maritime safety authority confirmed they found the 23-year-old's body on wednesday.

Gregory Robinson

The body of a woman who went missing after she fell from a cruise ship off the coast of Australia has been found.

The discovery of the woman’s body was confirmed by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority after she was found at around 7:00am 45km from the coast in the waters off Cape Jaffa.

The unnamed 23-year-old woman was travelling on the P&O Pacific Explorer cruise ship prior to her death.

According to police, the ship’s crew members discovered that the passenger was missing at about 11:30pm on Tuesday and alerted authorities soon after midnight on Wednesday.

The cruise ship was stopped 70km off the coast of Cape Jaffa and remained there while the search for the woman commenced.

A spokesperson confirmed that the search party discovered the woman’s body: “AMSA deployed a Melbourne based Challenger and two rescue helicopters to conduct the search alongside Pacific Explorer throughout the night.

“The body of a woman was found by rescue helicopter this morning at about 7am and was taken to Mt Gambier hospital for identification.

“AMSA expresses condolences to the family of the deceased.”

P&O operator Carnival Cruises also released a statement, sharing that it will provide ‘care and assistance’ to the late woman’s family.

“This tragic discovery comes after an overnight search and rescue operation," a spokesperson said in a statement.

"We continue to provide care and assistance to the family member this guest was travelling with and extend our deepest condolences to their loved ones.

"As you can appreciate this has also deeply impacted our remaining guests and crew. We thank all involved who supported this distressing and challenging search operation.

"Relevant authorities have been advised and we will continue to work with them and provide any assistance required."

In a previous statement, Carnival Cruises said the family of the woman is ‘being cared for by our on-board team while every effort is being made to find the guest'.

The Pacific Explorer began its journey leaving Melbourne on Tuesday for a four-day return trip to Kangaroo Island.

Victoria Police will lead the investigation into the woman’s death.

Topics:  News , Australia

Gregory is a journalist for UNILAD. After graduating with a master's degree in journalism, he has worked for both print and online publications and is particularly interested in TV, (pop) music and lifestyle. He loves Madonna, teen dramas from the '90s and prefers tea over coffee.

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Woman found dead after falling from cruise ship in South Australia

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Body of missing woman who fell overboard from Pacific Explorer cruise ship recovered

Ship’s visit to Kangaroo Island cancelled after body of 23-year-old woman found off South Australian coast

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The body of a woman who fell overboard from a cruise ship off the South Australian coast overnight has been found.

Crew members aboard the Pacific Explorer discovered the 23-year-old passenger was missing when the vessel was 70km off the coast of Cape Jaffa in the state’s south-east about midnight.

A search and rescue aircraft coordinated by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority was joined by two helicopters at day break on Wednesday and the woman’s body was found in the water just before 7am.

“This tragic discovery comes after an overnight search and rescue operation,” Carnival Australia spokeswoman said in a statement.

“We continue to provide care and assistance to the family member this guest was travelling with and extend our deepest condolences to their loved ones.”

The cruise ship company said the death had also “deeply impacted” other guests and the crew.

“We thank all involved who supported this distressing and challenging search operation,” the spokeswoman said.

The ship, which can accommodate about 2,000 guests, left Victoria on Tuesday for a four-night return voyage from Port Melbourne to Kangaroo Island.

The visit to the island has been cancelled and the ship is returning to Melbourne.

Victoria police will conduct an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death.

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Victoria Police called to help investigate after woman’s body found off cruise ship

A second police force has joined the investigation after a 23-year-old woman fell from a cruise ship on its way to Kangaroo Island.

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A second state’s police department has been called in to help after a woman’s body was found off South Australia’s southeast coast.

The 23-year-old woman is believed to have fallen from a cruise ship.

The alarm was raised at around midnight on Tuesday on the Pacific Explorer, which left Melbourne on Tuesday en route to Kangaroo Island.

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority Joint Rescue Coordination Centre have confirmed her body was found in waters 45km off Cape Jaffa at about 7am after a search was conducted overnight.

A Melbourne based Challenger and two PolAir rescue helicopters were deployed to conduct the search alongside Pacific Explorer throughout the night.

On Wednesday afternoon, Victoria Police confirmed they had also been called in to assist South Australian Police.

“Victoria Police is assisting South Australia Police after a woman was reported overboard from a cruise ship,” a spokesperson said.

“Victorian police will be tasked with gathering statements from witnesses and necessary information to assist with South Australia Police’s investigation.

“South Australia Police is leading the investigation at this stage.”

The woman’s body was found by a rescue helicopter and was taken to Mt Gambier hospital for identification.

AMSA has expressed their condolences to her family.

A Carnival Australia spokesperson expressed their “deepest condolences” to the young woman’s family.

“We continue to provide care and assistance to the family member this guest was travelling with and extend our deepest condolences to their loved ones,” the spokesperson said.

“As you can appreciate this has also deeply impacted our remaining guests and crew.

“We thank all involved who supported this distressing and challenging search operation.”

In a statement released on Tuesday, Carnival Australia confirmed that the young woman had been travelling with a family member.

“They are being cared for by our on-board team while every effort is being made to find this guest,” the statement said.

Victoria Police will be conducting an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death.

The four-night short cruise departed from Port Melbourne on Tuesday and was due to spend a day at sea on Wednesday but will now return to the departure port.

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Passenger dies on Royal Caribbean ship that left Miami for 9-month world cruise

Serenade of the seas left miami on dec. 10, 2023, on the ultimate world cruise, a 274-night, seven-continent voyage that stops at 60 countries and 11 world wonders, by nbc6 • published february 13, 2024 • updated on february 13, 2024 at 3:22 pm.

A passenger has died while on board a Royal Caribbean ship that left Miami for a nine-month "Ultimate World Cruise," the company said Tuesday.

"A guest sailing on board Serenade of the Seas has sadly passed away," a Royal Caribbean spokesperson said in a statement to NBC News . "We are actively providing support and assistance to the guest's loved ones at this time. Out of the privacy of the guest and their family, we have nothing further to share at this time."

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The passenger's identity and details surrounding their death weren't released.

Serenade of the Seas left Miami on Dec. 10, 2023, on the Ultimate World Cruise, a 274-night, seven-continent voyage that stops at 60 countries and 11 world wonders.

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The ship has already made its way through Mexico, the Caribbean, Brazil, Peru and Ecuador on its South America leg last month. On Sunday, the Asia Pacific leg of the voyage began that will see the ship pass through Hawaii, Polynesia and Australia.

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Body found in search for passenger overboard on Pacific Adventure cruise ship due to arrive in Sydney

A body has been found in a large search operation off the coast of Sydney after a man was reported missing off a cruise ship early Monday.

About 10:30am, officers from the Police Marine Area Command retrieved a body from the water. 

The alarm was raised on the P&O vessel Pacific Adventure about 4am when it was about 10 nautical miles, or 18 kilometres, off Sydney Heads.

The ship was due to dock at White Bay Terminal a few hours later but that was delayed as the search was underway.

NSW Police Marine Commander Joseph McNulty earlier said police were hopeful because one of three emergency life rings that had been deployed had not been retrieved, fuelling hope the man may have latched onto it. 

Swells of 4 to 5 metres hindered efforts of rescue teams, which searched a 60-square-nautical-mile area and used infrared technology to search for the man's heat signature. 

A second cruise ship which was in the area has also joined the search. 

Both ships tried to lower life boats in to the water but had to abort due to the rough conditions. 

Family being cared for onboard

At least three police vessels and a number of tug boats were deployed in the search, alongside the Toll rescue helicopter. 

In a statement, P&O said there were more than 2,600 guests still on board the ship, which has now been cleared to return to port in Sydney. 

"Pacific Adventure's next voyage due to depart White Bay this afternoon has been delayed, with the ship expected to leave later tonight on a four-night voyage to Queensland," it said. 

"We thank guests for their care, understanding and patience on what's been a distressing day for guests and crew.

"Our thoughts are with the family of the guest at this difficult time."

Police have launched an investigation into the death and will prepare a report for the coroner. 

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Tragedy on Pacific Explorer: Missing woman, 23, found dead after falling overboard from cruise ship

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA: A woman's body was found after she fell overboard from a cruise ship overnight off the coast of South Australia.

Around midnight on December 14, the Pacific Explorer's crew learned that the 23-year-old passenger was missing when the ship was about 70 kilometers off the shore of Cape Jaffa in the state's southeast. They immediately alerted the authorities. The woman's body was found in the water, 45 kilometers from the coast, just before 7.am on Wednesday after two helicopters and an Australian Maritime Safety Authority-coordinated search and rescue aircraft joined the effort. 

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A spokesperson told Daily Mail , "AMSA deployed a Melbourne based Challenger and two rescue helicopters to conduct the search alongside Pacific Explorer throughout the night. The body of a woman was found by rescue helicopter this morning at about 7.am and was taken to Mt Gambier hospital for identification. AMSA expresses condolences to the family of the deceased."

P&O's operator, Carnival Cruises, also confirmed the woman's death. "This tragic discovery comes after an overnight search and rescue operation," a spokesperson said. "We continue to provide care and assistance to the family member this guest was travelling with and extend our deepest condolences to their loved ones."

The cruise ship company said the death had also "deeply impacted" other guests and the crew. "As you can appreciate this has also deeply impacted our remaining guests and crew. We thank all involved who supported this distressing and challenging search operation. Relevant authorities have been advised and we will continue to work with them and provide any assistance required."

The ship, which can accommodate about 2,000 guests, left Victoria on Tuesday for a four-night return voyage from Port Melbourne to Kangaroo Island. A cruise passenger said that despite the woman's death, the ship's activities still continue as scheduled. "It’s pretty much business as usual, if that makes sense. Most of the talk is about the woman overboard. Restaurants and everything are operating as normal. Most of the decks were closed before due to strong winds. It’s been a rough cruise."

The journey to the Kangaroo Island has been cancelled and the ship is returning to Melbourne. Victoria police will conduct an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death.

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Rogue Wave Strikes Cruise Ship, Killing a Passenger and Injuring 4 Others

The passengers were hurt after a large, unpredictable wave hit the ship, which was traveling toward the Antarctic, Viking Cruises said.

By Amanda Holpuch

A passenger died and four others were injured after a large, unexpected wave hit a cruise ship traveling toward a popular launching point for expeditions to Antarctica, Viking Cruises said.

The ship, the Viking Polaris, was struck by a “rogue wave” on Tuesday at 10:40 p.m. local time while traveling toward Ushuaia, Argentina, which is on the southern tip of South America, Viking Cruises said in a statement .

Viking Cruises did not say how the passenger was killed or provide the passenger’s name. The four passengers who were injured were treated by onboard medical staff and had non-life-threatening injuries, Viking Cruises said.

A State Department official said that a U.S. citizen died and that the department was offering consular assistance to the person’s family.

Rogue waves are unpredictable, typically twice the size of surrounding waves and often come from a different direction than the surrounding wind and waves, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration . Scientists are still trying to figure out how and when these uncommon waves form.

Ann Mah, of Topeka, Kan., told the news station WIBW that she and her husband were on the ship when it was hit by the wave and that it was “just like your whole house got shook really hard.”

“I mean, it was just a thud,” Ms. Mah said.

The Viking Polaris was launched this year and was designed for travel to remote destinations such as the Antarctic Peninsula. The ship is 665 feet long and can carry 378 passengers and 256 crew members.

The ship sustained “limited damage” from the wave and arrived in Ushuaia the day after it was struck, Viking Cruises said.

The cruise company canceled the Viking Polaris’s next scheduled trip, a 13-day cruise to the Antarctic Peninsula.

“We are investigating the facts surrounding this incident and will offer our support to the relevant authorities,” the company said.

Tourism to the Antarctic has steadily increased in the last 30 years, with 74,401 people traveling there in the 2019-20 season, according to the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators. Roughly 6,700 people traveled there in the 1992-93 season, according to the association.

In recent years, some observers have warned that the increase in tourism may not be sustainable and that it could threaten visitor safety or disrupt the fragile environment, which is already straining under the effects of climate change.

It is the beginning of the Antarctic tourism season, which coincides with its summer, beginning in late October or early November and usually lasting until March.

The death on the Viking Cruises ship this week comes after the death of two other cruise ship passengers in the Antarctic last month. Two Quark Expeditions cruise ship passengers died after one of the ship’s heavy duty inflatable Zodiac boats overturned near shore, Seatrade Cruise News reported .

Amanda Holpuch is a general assignment reporter. More about Amanda Holpuch

Cruise Ship Deaths – Annual Statistics, Causes and Real Examples

You may be wondering how many people die on cruise ships annually. It’s inevitable that with so many people taking a cruise, some will die onboard. The majority will die from natural causes but not all are as innocent.

In recent years there have been many incidents of accidents, suicides, and murders.

How Many People Die on Cruise Ships Each Year?

There are many sources which quote 200 as the number of cruise ship deaths each year. The real number is likely to be higher as not all cruise lines and countries share their death statistics. The majority of deaths that occur onboard cruise ships are from natural causes although some die in accidents, murders, suicides, or overdoses. 

In the article, we will look at common cruise ship death causes and some examples which made it to the mainstream media.

Cruise Ship Death Statistics

There are relatively few sources that provide accurate death statistics for cruise lines. Accidents, suicides, and murders are well reported but deaths from natural causes are often missed from the figures. The website CruiseShipDeaths.com records many of the deaths that happen on cruise ships including deaths of crew members.

There are approximately 30 million people who took a cruise in 2019. Assuming that each took a cruise for one week that means that there are around 500 thousand guests at sea at any one time.

200 deaths out of 30,000,000 yearly passengers equate to 1 in 150,000 guests. This means that there are around 3/4 deaths per week.  

Cruise Ship Deaths – Murders

Although cruise ship murders are incredibly rare, they do happen. Murders are usually committed by a person that the victim knows and the majority of cruise ship murders involve arguments that escalate or a previous history of abuse.

For obvious reasons murders which happen on cruise ships are very rarely pre-planned.

It’s worth noting that guns are not allowed on cruise ships under any circumstances and as a result, most murders are either stabbings or involve pushing the victim into the ocean.

Tamara Loraine Tucker Murdered on Carnival Elation

Tamara Loraine Tucker was allegedly murdered by her ‘long term love’ onboard the Carnival Elation in 2018. The couple was taking a four-night cruise from Florida at the time.

An argument broke out just before midnight in their cabin on the 13th deck. Her partner Eric has admitted that he strangled her and pushed her over the balcony. She fell two decks down to deck 11 and died of blunt force trauma.

Eric was charged with murder in the second degree.

Kristy Manzanares Murdered on The Emerald Princess

In 2017 Kristy and Kenneth Manzanares were taking a cruise to Alaska onboard the Emerald Princess. Kristy was a 39-year-old mother of three and was traveling on the cruise with her husband and three teenage daughters.

Kenneth beat Kristy to death and attempted to throw her body overboard. He was caught by another person dragging her body out onto the balcony.  The murder took place in adjoining cabins on deck 9, cabins D726 and D728.

The video above shows news footage from the time of the incident. It was reported that other passengers heard Kristy’s screams and that the teenage girls suspected that their dad would do ‘something like this’.

Almarosa Tenorio Murdered on The Royal Princess

In 2018 Almarosa Terorio was cruising on the Royal Princess with her husband when she fell to her death. The couple was actually cruising in an inside cabin at the time but witnesses report seeing a man strangle her and then throw her overboard. The incident happened on the lido deck.

She fell down from deck 16 onto a lifeboat on deck 7 with such force that it actually broke the glass on the lifeboat. Many passengers report seeing blood and glass. The ship was held while the incident was investigated.

Darla J Mellinger Murdered on The Ryndam – Murder-Suicide

In 2015 Darla J Mellinger was murdered onboard Holland America’s Ryndam by her husband. They were taking a 14 night Caribbean cruise to celebrate the Easter holiday.

It’s reported that her husband John found a text from Darla to another man. He broke some glass in the cabin to make a weapon and stabbed Darla to death. After the murder, he hung himself in the bathroom.

Prior to the cruise, Darla had been to the hospital a stab wound to the chest which the pair had explained was caused by an accident.

Recommended Watching: Cruise Ship Killers

If you’re interested in cruise ship murders I recommend you watch the series Cruise Ship Killers. The show has changed the names of the people involved but the murders are real. It’s a little dramatic, but I enjoyed watching it.

Cruise ship killers is available to watch on Amazon Prime.

If you don’t have Amazon Prime you can use this link to sign up for a 30 day free trial. (It’s definitely possible to watch all episodes within the 30 days if you want to). Note: When you watch the show you’ll probably be curious as to who each episode is based on, I have written a guide which covers that here: Cruise Ship Killers – The REAL Deaths Behind The Show (Episode Guide)

Cruise Ship Deaths – Suicides

Sadly there are a number of people who decide to end their lives on cruise ships, mostly by jumping from the ship. It’s not only passengers who do this but also sometimes crew too.

I was actually on board a cruise where a man went overboard. We heard an announcement in our cabin and our next port stop was canceled so that we could search for the missing man. A number of other cruise ships also came from close by to join the search. He was never found and was presumed dead.

What would happen if you fell overboard on a cruise? The following post details step by step the processes that are in place:

Cruise Ships Stop if You Fall Overboard – Here’s What Happens

Crew Suicides and Coronavirus

In 2020 an increased number of crew members committed suicide during the coronavirus crisis. In may 2020,  5 crew members committed suicide on board cruise ships. Most jumped to their deaths and some hung themselves in cabin bathrooms.

Crew members at the time were unable to leave their cruise ships and were facing months at sea, sometimes quarantined to their cabins, with no real end in sight.

Cruise Ship Deaths – Accidental Deaths at Sea

Accidents happen at sea in the same way that they happen on land. Cruise ships are incredibly safe and the safety of passengers and crew is the primary concern for all.

That said many accidents still happen onboard when guests break rules, enter restricted areas, or simply just have bad luck. Accidents don’t just happen at sea but also when guests are on land on excursions.

Common examples of accidental cruise ship deaths include:

• Trips or Falls
• Accidents in Port
• Entering restricted areas
• Climbing from a balcony to another balcony

Salvatore Anello – Royal Caribbean Accidental Death

One of the highest-profile and most heartbreaking accidental death stories to occur on a cruise in recent years is that of grandfather Salvatore Anello who dropped his 18-month-old granddaughter from a window on to the dock below. The accident happened on the Freedom of the Seas.

“I wasn’t drinking and I wasn’t dangling her out of a window. I just wanted to knock on the glass with her as we did together so many times before. I was just so horribly wrong about our surroundings,” he said. – source.

Salvatore pleaded guilty to negligent homicide. In the above video he explains what happened and how he is trying to rebuild his life for his family.

Larent Mercer – Royal Caribbean Accidental Death

In 2019 a 16-year-old boy died when he tried to climb across outdoor balconies after losing his room key. Sadly this isn’t an isolated incident with many other people also meeting the same fate.

Some passengers who have died in this way have done so because they were trying to climb from deck to deck or to show off to friends and fellow guests.

Harmony of The Seas was docked in Labadee, Haiti at the time and the boy fell to his death landing on the pier below.

It goes without saying that you shouldn’t EVER try to climb on, or around, cruise ship balconies. Losing your room key isn’t a problem at all, lots of people do it, and if you do you just need to go to reception to get a new card issued to you.

Despite all of the warnings some guests still do not respect the cruise lines rules and they try to do things like jump from the balconies. Guests who do such irresponsible things are usually banned from the cruise line for life, and from other cruise lines too. The video below shows one of these people.

No cruise line wants to have to recover a dead body or clean up the mess!

Cruise Ship Deaths – Swimming Pool Drownings

As with any swimming pool, there is always a risk of drowning. On some cruise lines, you will find lifeguards but this isn’t mandatory and not all cruise lines have them. Royal Caribbean and Norwegian Cruise Line have recently added lifeguards but Princess cruises are one cruise line that doesn’t have lifeguards on duty.

There have been multiple drownings on Princess ships.

In 2014 a 29-year-old woman drowned on board the Sapphire Princess. A year later in 2015, an 8-year-old boy was found drowned also onboard Sapphire Princess.  In 2019 a man in his 30s was found drowned on board the Caribbean Princess.

Of course, Princess aren’t the only cruise line where this has happened:

In 2019 a 10-year-old boy drowned on a Genting cruise ship.

In 2015 an 8-year-old boy drowned onboard Liberty of the Seas.

In 2015 a 10-year-old girl drowned on board the Norwegian Gem.

There are many more examples.

Costa Concordia

In 2012 the Costa Concordia struck an underwater rock and capsized near Tuscany. The cruise ship was only eight years old and the captain on board was Francesco Schettino.

I’ve cruised with Costa since the event and many people still refuse to cruise with the cruise line because of this accident. In reality, it wasn’t the fault of Costa cruise line but that of a severely negligent captain.

Francesco Schettino

Francesco decided to change the route of the cruise ship which caused the accident. The ship sailed closer to land than she normally would and as a result, she overturned. 32 people lost their lives and captain Francesco was charged with manslaughter and sentenced to 16 years in prison.

It’s a maritime tradition that the captain always goes down with his ship. Meaning that the captain should make sure that everybody else is off the ship before they disembark. Francesco didn’t do this and decided instead to save himself. He disobeyed orders to go back to the ship.

Now you go to the bow, you climb up the emergency ladder and coordinate the evacuation. You must tell us how many people, children, women and passengers are there and the exact number of each category,” said officials to Francesco Schettino. “What are you doing? Are you abandoning the rescue? Captain, this is an order, I am the one in charge now. You have declared abandoning ship,” he said, adding: “There are already bodies.” “How many?” Schettino says, prompting the cutting reply: “That is for you to tell me, what are you doing? Do you want to go home?” – source.

It’s estimated that the disaster cost Costa Cruises, owned by Carnival, around $2 billion dollars. To learn more about how the cruise industry overcame this disaster and other disasters similar to it, check out this video below:

Cruise Ship Deaths – Accidental Deaths in Port

As mentioned above some passengers do get injured, or die as a result of their activities when in port or on land. Cruise ship and organized excursions are usually very safe but it’s impossible to remove all risks from every activity.

Ovation of The Seas

One of the largest losses to life in recent years from an accidental death in port is when the Whakaari volcano in New Zealand erupted in 2019. Guests from Royal Caribbean’s Ovation of The Seas were visiting the island at the time.

At the time of the eruption, there were reportedly 47 people on the island and 19 people were killed, most on Royal Caribbean’s excursions. The victims included children as young as five.

Cruise Ship Deaths – Natural Causes

The majority of people who die on cruise ships do because of natural causes. Common causes are strokes and heart attacks as these strike quickly with little warning. People don’t send to board cruises if they have ongoing serious medical problems that aren’t well managed.

Travel insurance can get very expensive if you have pre-existing medical conditions.

It is incredibly important that you have travel insurance for any cruise. Onboard medical expenses are very expensive and costs can quickly add up if passengers need to be airlifted off the ship. I’ve been on a couple of cruises where the ship has had to make extra called to drop off passengers who were unwell.

Never ever ever ever cruise without travel insurance! Even if you are just cruising to the Caribbean from the USA, you NEED insurance. Compare quotes (for free) here: – USA – UK

Bruce Campbell

In 2019 Bruce Campbell was playing bingo onboard the Carnival Sunshine when he suffered a stroke. He was originally sent to a hospital in Freeport, Bahamas but they didn’t have the medical facilities to treat him.

He was cruising with his wife at the time and they didn’t have the necessary funds to get him back to America. Amazingly an anonymous donor donated the $20,000 needed for Bruce to be flown back to the US for treatment. This highlights the importance of travel insurance mentioned above.

Sadly Bruce later passed away but he was able to donate his organs to save numerous other people’s lives.

The video above talks more about this story.

Peggy Bowman

Peggy Bowman died at the age of 89 on board a Cunard cruise. She took a world cruise annually and died shortly after visiting the port of Honolulu in Hawaii. Peggy had been cruising since the 80s and died of a heart attack on board.

What a way to go!

To learn more about the process of what happens in the situation where somebody dies on a cruise, including how the body is transported home and where it is stored, check out this post:

Cruise Ship Deaths: What Happens Next? Step by Step Process Guide

To Conclude:

Many people die each year on cruises although the exact number isn’t known. The majority die from natural causes or accidents but there are a few who are murdered or commit suicide. Death is inevitable with so many passengers cruising each year.

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Ever wondered how the mainstream cruise lines compare? Cruise lines won’t tell you this, but I will.

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Wreck of ship on which famed explorer Ernest Shackleton died found on ocean floor off Canada

By Kerry Breen

Updated on: June 12, 2024 / 2:43 PM EDT / CBS News

The wreck of the ship that famed explorer Ernest Shackleton died on more than a century ago has been found on the ocean floor off the coast of Canada, according to a news release from the Royal Canadian Geographical Society . 

Shackleton was a legendary explorer who sailed to the edges of the Earth, including four trips to Antarctica . During one notable expedition in 1915, his iconic ship Endurance  became trapped by sea ice . The ship sank, but Shackleton and his entire crew survived the episode. The Endurance shipwreck was finally  found in 2022 . 

Seven years later, in 1922, Shackleton would die aboard the Quest, a Norwegian vessel, during another expedition to the polar region. Shackleton's death of a heart attack at 47 ended what historians consider the "Heroic Age of Polar Exploration," the RCGS said. 

After Shackleton's death, the Quest was acquired by a Norwegian company and continued to sail important expeditions, including the 1930 British Arctic Air Route Expedition, the RCGS said. The ship was also used in Arctic rescues and even was part of the Royal Canadian Navy during World War II. 

In 1962, while being used as a sealing ship, the Quest was damaged by ice off the coast of Newfoundland and sank. The crew survived, the RCGS said, but the ship landed on the seabed more than 1,200 feet underwater. 

The wreck was found just a mile and a half away from the ship's last reported position, but it took sonar equipment and an international team of experts to find the site, the RCGS said. The "Shackleton Quest Expedition" team included participants from Canada, Norway, the United Kingdom and the United States. Search director David Mearns said that he and lead researcher Antoine Normandin cross-referenced historic logs and maps with historical data to determine where currents and weather conditions may have carried the ship. 

Just five days into the expedition, the site was found, with historians, divers and oceanographers working together to confirm the wreck's identity. 

"In the pantheon of polar ships, Quest is definitely an icon,"  Mearns  told BBC News  

On Sunday, the wreck was confirmed to be that of the Quest, the RCGS said. 

"Finding  Quest  is one of the final chapters in the extraordinary story of Sir Ernest Shackleton," said expedition leader John Geiger, CEO of the RCGS, in the news release. "Shackleton was known for his courage and brilliance as a leader in crisis. The tragic irony is that his was the only death to take place on any of the ships under his direct command."

The ship remains intact, Mearns said, and sonar imagery "corresponds exactly with the known dimensions and structural features of this special ship." 

The explorers are planning to return to the shipwreck, potentially later this year, to conduct a more complete investigation, the BBC reported.

"Right now, we don't intend to touch the wreck. It actually lies in an already protected area for wildlife, so nobody should be touching it," associate search director Antoine Normandin said. "But we do hope to go back and photograph it with a remotely operated vehicle, to really understand its state."

This year marks the 150th anniversary of Shackleton's birth. His granddaughter, Alexandra Shackleton, was a patron of the expedition and said that finding the shipwreck during such a memorable anniversary has made its discovery all the more meaningful.

"My grandfather, Sir Ernest Shackleton, had purchased  Quest  with the intention of leading a Canadian Arctic expedition," she said. "It is perhaps fitting that the ship should have ended its storied service in Canadian waters. I have long hoped for this day and am grateful to those who made this incredible discovery."

Shackleton continues to spark interest more than a century after his death. The BBC reports that hundreds of people visit his grave on every year to pay their respects to the man known as "The Boss."

• Ernest Shackleton

Kerry Breen is a news editor at CBSNews.com. A graduate of New York University's Arthur L. Carter School of Journalism, she previously worked at NBC News' TODAY Digital. She covers current events, breaking news and issues including substance use.

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Wreck of the last ship of famed Anglo-Irish explorer Shackleton found off the coast of Canada

The wreck of the last ship belonging to a famous Irish-born British explorer of Antarctica has been found off the coast of Canada by an international team led by the Royal Canadian Geographical Society.

FILE - Sir Ernest Shackleton, a noted explorer and writer, is shown as he arrived in New York on the Aquitania, on a hurried business trip to Canada, Jan. 30, 1921. The wreck of the last ship belonging to the famed explorer of Antarctica has been found off the coast of Canada by an international team led by the Royal Canadian Geographical Society. The Quest was found using sonar scans on Sunday evening, June 9, 2024, sitting on its keel under 390 meters of churning, frigid water. (AP Photo, File)

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This photo provided by Canadian Geographic shows the Quest Expedition Team in Labrador, Canada, Sunday, June 9, 2024. The wreck of the last ship belonging to Sir Ernest Shackleton, an Irish-born British explorer of Antarctica has been found off the coast of Canada by the international team led by the Royal Canadian Geographical Society. The Quest was found using sonar scans on Sunday evening, sitting on its keel under 390 meters — about 1,280 feet — of churning, frigid water. (Jill Heinerth/Canadian Geographic via AP)

This photo provided by the Royal Canadian Geographical Society shows the Quest ship sinking off the coast of Labrador, Canada, May 5, 1962. The wreck of the last ship belonging to Sir Ernest Shackleton, an Irish-born British explorer of Antarctica has been found off the coast of Canada by an international team led by the Royal Canadian Geographical Society. The Quest was found using sonar scans on Sunday evening, June 9, 2024. (Tore Topp/Royal Canadian Geographical Society via AP)

This photo provided by the Royal Canadian Geographical Society shows the Quest ship sinking off of Labrador, Canada, on May 5, 1962. The wreck of the last ship belonging to Sir Ernest Shackleton, an Irish-born British explorer of Antarctica has been found off the coast of Canada by an international team led by the Royal Canadian Geographical Society. The Quest was found using sonar scans on Sunday evening, June 9, 2024. (Tore Topp/Royal Canadian Geographical Society via AP)

In this sonar image provided by the Canadian Geographic shows the missing Quest ship sitting on its keel under water off the coast of Labrador, Canada, on Sunday, June 9, 2024. The wreck of the last ship belonging to Sir Ernest Shackleton, a famous Irish-born British explorer of Antarctica, has been found 62 years after it went missing. The wreck was found by an international team led by the Royal Canadian Geographical Society. (Canadian Geographic via AP)

In this photo provided by Canadian Geographic shows Antoine Normandin, from left, Deputy Search Director, John Geiger, Expedition Leader and CEO, Royal Canadian Geographical Society and David Mearns, Search Director, Blue Water Recoveries Ltd. part of the team that located the missing Quest ship, in Labrador, Canada, Sunday, June 9, 2024. The wreck of the last ship belonging to Sir Ernest Shackleton, a famous Irish-born British explorer of Antarctica, has been found off the coast of Labrador in Canada, 62 years after it went missing. The wreck was found by an international team led by the Royal Canadian Geographical Society. (Jill Heinerth/Canadian Geographic via AP)

In this photo provided by Canadian Geographic Craig Bulger, left, Project Engineer, Fisheries and Marine Institute Memorial University of Newfoundland and David Mearns, Search Director, Blue Water Recoveries Ltd. prepare to launch the side-scan sonar tow fish to search for the missing Quest ship off the coast of Labrador, Canada, Sunday, June 9, 2024. The wreck of the last ship belonging to Sir Ernest Shackleton, a famous Irish-born British explorer of Antarctica, has been found 62 years after it went missing. The wreck was found by an international team led by the Royal Canadian Geographical Society. (Jill Heinerth/Canadian Geographic via AP)

ST. JOHN’S, Newfoundland (AP) — The wreck of the last ship belonging to Sir Ernest Shackleton, a famous Irish-born British explorer of Antarctica, has been found off the coast of Labrador in Canada, 62 years after it went missing. The wreck was found by an international team led by the Royal Canadian Geographical Society.

The Quest was found using sonar scans on Sunday evening, sitting on its keel under 390 meters (1,280 feet) of churning, frigid water, the society said. Its towering mast is lying broken beside it, likely cracked off as the vessel was sucked into the depths after it struck ice on May 5, 1962.

“I heard that some Americans were interested in finding Quest, and I just had this picture in my mind of a few billionaires on yachts, up in the Labrador Sea,” John Geiger, leader of the Shackleton Quest Expedition and the chief executive of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society, told an audience at the Memorial University’s Marine Institute in St. John’s, Newfoundland, on Wednesday.

“We’ve done it the right way. It’s not about anyone’s ego, it’s about telling great stories and celebrating some of the finest human attributes,” Geiger said.

He called the Quest a historically very important ship.

Shackleton’s death aboard the ship in 1922 marked the end of what historians consider the “heroic age” of Antarctic exploration. The explorer led three British expeditions to the Antarctic, and he was in the early stages of a fourth when he died of a heart attack. He was 47.

The Norwegian-built Quest was a schooner-rigged steamship, and Shackleton bought it specifically to travel to Canada’s High Arctic, Geiger said. But the Canadian government at the time axed those plans, and Shackleton decided to set sail once again for the Antarctic.

He died when it was just off South Georgia, east of the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic.

After the explorer’s death, the Quest was used for Arctic research and then returned to its original intended use as a sealing vessel. It sank in 1962, after it was damaged by ice in the Labrador Sea while on a whaling trip.

The vessel appears to be in “incredible condition,” though it was damaged when it slammed into the seabed, Geiger said.

It won’t be brought to the surface — that would be far too expensive, he added — but it will be thoroughly documented and studied. A crew will likely head out some time before the end of summer to begin taking footage of the vessel with a remotely operated vehicle.

In 2022, researchers discovered another one of Shackleton’s ships, the Endurance in 10,000 feet — about 3,000 meters — of icy water, a century after it was swallowed up by Antarctic ice.

A team of marine archaeologists, engineers and other scientists used an icebreaker ship and underwater drones to locate the wreck at the bottom of the Weddell Sea, near the Antarctica Peninsula.

The expedition Endurance22 embarked from Cape Town, South Africa, in early February in a ship capable of breaking through 3-foot (1-meter)-thick ice.

The team, which included more than 100 researchers and crew members, deployed underwater drones that combed the seafloor for two weeks in the area where the ship was recorded to have sunk in 1915.

Shackleton never achieved his ambition to become the first person to cross Antarctica via the South Pole. In fact, he never set foot on the continent during the failed Endurance expedition, though he did visit Antarctica during earlier voyages.

From 'Mission Impossible' to 'Top Gun': Tom Cruise's 14 Best Stunts, Ranked

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Tom Cruise is one of the great movie stars of modern times and is undoubtedly the biggest action hero of the 21st century so far. He has built a reputation for exhilarating thrills thanks to his willingness to tackle death-defying stunts on a regular basis. Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One will only further that legacy as it bursts into cinemas on July 12.

Tom Cruise is a man of many talents, and he has made a name for himself in the action genre. Other franchises come to mind like James Bond , Die Hard , and Fast and Furious , but they don't live up to the work that Cruise has put into his action films. Unlike the other actors, Cruise performs all of his stunts and the majority are in the Mission: Impossible franchise.

He is known for going above and beyond and making the impossible, possible. One could say he's a real-life Ethan Hunt. Cruise has impressed his fans time and time again because each action movie of his offers even higher stakes and more dangerous stunts. Cruise has gotten himself in some pretty sticky situations, but he was able to get the shot and make a very memorable action sequence.

Updated on July 10, 2023, by Ryan Heffernan:

14 infiltrating the cia vault, 'mission: impossible' (1996).

The first installment in the Mission: Impossible franchise set the tone for the high-stakes action fans would be blown away by in the upcoming sequels. Director Brian De Palma added his style to the franchise and created such great tension through his visuals.

When Ethan Hunt has to break into the CIA for the disk, De Palma played into the silence of the room. The audience could hear a pin drop and see the beads of sweat forming on Hunt's brow. Cruise did this on his own, and it is easily the most memorable scene in the franchise.

13 Zero Gravity Plane Crash

'the mummy' (2017).

While it didn’t quite become a cinematic sensation like some of Cruise’s other projects, The Mummy did still boast the actor at his death-defying best. There is a scene in the monster movie where the plane carrying the mummy’s sarcophagus is hit by a flock of kamikaze birds, seeing the plane enter a free fall in one of the film’s most chaotic sequences.

In typical Cruise fashion, the scene was a demanding shoot for the cast and crew, being filmed on the “vomit comet”, a zero-gravity aircraft used to train NASA astronauts. The scene required 64 takes across two days of filming consisting of four separate trips up in the plane.

12 The Train Chase

The Mission: Impossible train chase in the wild final action sequence brought the whole movie together. This one felt so long because it came after some important information. The twists in the first installment were perfectly placed and kept the story going.

The bullet train chase had Cruise hopping over latches, hanging on the side of the train, and lastly trying to dodge a helicopter in a tunnel. Does it seem far-fetched? Sure. De Palma made it work and Cruise doing the stunts, made it even more believable.

11 Knife to the Eye

'mission: impossible 2' (2000).

As something of an anomaly for a Tom Cruise stunt, the knife scene in Mission: Impossible 2 didn’t contain a hell of a lot in the way of breathtaking spectacle, but whatever it lacked in grandiosity it more than made up for with heart-pounding intensity. The idea reportedly came from Cruise himself, who felt the drama could be elevated if the attackers tried to shove a knife in Ethan Hunt’s eye.

The scene was achieved by attaching the knife to a steel cable with Cruise measuring the knife’s reach and then positioning himself accordingly. The end result is probably one of the most squeamish stunts Cruise has performed in his career.

10 Cliff Climb

It's difficult to top a first installment, especially one directed by such a legendary director as De Palma. However, John Woo stepped in for Mission: Impossible and brought his style to the franchise. This movie was a bit more flashy and campy than the first one, but it worked for those wicked action sequences.

From Cruise scaling a mountain and climbing up to the top in the opening sequence to a very engaging final action set piece, Mission: Impossible 2 is underrated . The motorcycle chase and the hand-to-hand combat, in the end, helped bookend the quality of stunts in this installment. Cruise of course topped himself in the next sequels, but watching this cliff scene for the first time was jaw-dropping.

9 Underwater Vault Mission

'mission: impossible - rogue nation' (2015).

The underwater vault scene in Rogue Nation is probably the most intricate stunt that Cruise had to perform for the Impossible series. He trained himself before shooting to hold his breath for almost six minutes underwater. There were components to this entire scene.

The scene feels like it goes on for so long, but that's just because of the stress director Christopher McQuarrie puts the audience under with Cruise doing something this impossible. He trained himself to get to the point where he would be safe to do this stunt, but it did not stop fans from squirming in their seats while watching.

8 Motorcycle Jump to Car

'knight and day' (2010).

Cruise has done many action films, so when he signs on to do anything other than Mission: Impossible he comes up with his ideas. In Knight and Day , Cruise and Cameron Diaz do their stunts. There is an entire motorcycle chase with both of them that Cruise came up with the choreography for.

While performing this stunt there was no wirework and Cruise managed to leap from the motorcycle to the car without much of a struggle. While watching this scene you could tell that he was doing it on his own, and it is probably one of the coolest sequences in an action film.

7 Almost Getting Decapitated

'the last samurai' (2003).

The Last Samurai is a film that would be reserved for stunt doubles because of the sword action, but Cruise just got right in the action. He underwent some intense samurai and martial arts training for about a year before filming this, which paid off as it's now known as one of the best samurai movies of the 21st century .

In one scene, Cruise was riding a mechanical horse toward his co-star Hiroyki Sanada , then Sanada's horse traveled an extra step past his mark, causing his sword to almost slice the side of Cruise's neck. Knowing how much Cruise prepared for his role in this film, that little mishap didn't affect him at all.

6 The Helicopter Chase

'mission: impossible – fallout' (2018).

Mission: Impossible – Fallout has come to be received as one of the most thrilling action films ever made. A major reason for that was its many astonishing stunts which, in true Tom Cruise fashion, were largely handled by the actor himself.

This included the awe-inspiring final act in which Hunt pursues the film’s antagonist as he makes his getaway in a helicopter. Including a thrilling hijacking of a second helicopter as it flies and a chase sequence through difficult terrain, the entire sequence was a relentless spectacle of deadly stunts which defied belief.

5 Hanging Off a Plane

When Cruise gets to Rogue Nation he has already performed some death-defying stunts, but that doesn't stop him. This installment begins with Cruise hanging on the side of an airplane as it takes off. This is incredibly dangerous because of the speed and the air pressure, but Cruise looks like he's having fun.

Right from the opening, fans are locked in for the ride with Cruise because he understands how to build these small moments throughout the film. There are small, high-stakes action scenes that eventually build up into a larger, more elaborate one later on in the film.

4 Low Flying Flyby

'top gun: maverick' (2022).

In Cruise's latest action film, he gets back into the cockpit as Maverick and actually flies an F-14 under dangerous circumstances. In the first Top Gun , Cruise learned how to pilot the planes, but didn't do the majority of the stunts. In Top Gun: Maverick , the action star took it upon himself to teach the rest of the cast how to fly. He took them all to school and everyone learned how to pilot an F-14. In order to up the stakes, both visually and from an action standpoint, there are cameras placed in the cockpit with the actors to authentically capture their reactions.

Tom Cruise has been around for decades, and he is showing no sign of stopping. As he has gotten older, he has been able to create such incredible action set pieces that make him one of the most memorable movie stars to date. For an actor to be that dedicated to his craft and meticulous in performing these stunts is impressive. No matter what action film fans have watched Cruise in, he always delivers and that's why he is so fun to watch.

3 The Halo Jump

'mission: impossible - fallout' (2018).

With every Mission: Impossible film that comes out, fans wonder who Cruise will ever top the stunts in the previous installments. So with Fallout , which is the sixth movie in the long-running action franchise , Cruise upped the ante and did something he has always wanted to try... free-falling out of a plane.

The reason why the Halo jump in Fallout worked is that the camera was right on Cruise's face and not a wide shot of a stunt double. The audience could see his emotions as he tried to gather everyone else, during a thunderstorm. Only Cruise would be calm enough as an actor to perform this stunt and make it look effortless.

2 Burj Khalifa Climb

'mission: impossible - ghost protocol' (2011).

Cruise can climb a mountain, scale the side of a train, and of course, climb an entire building. The Burj Khalifa wall crawl is one of the most intense moments in the Mission: Impossible franchise – and among the best action scenes of the 2010s – because of the way it was filmed. Director Brad Bird focused on aerial shots to look down on Ethan Hunt as he scales the walls.

His partner Benji ( Simon Pegg ) gives him these sticky gloves that help him attach to the exterior walls. Even though it was heavily edited in post, Cruise was attached to several harnesses, but he was still climbing the side of the building on his own. The idea of those sticky gloves turning red and not being able to stick, upped the stakes in this timed mission.

1 Motorbike Jump

'mission: impossible – dead reckoning part one' (2023).

The release of Dead Reckoning Part One has long been awaited by fans of action blockbusters, with the film’s marketing campaign showcasing the behind-the-scenes approach to one of the most astonishing stunts ever filmed. Described as the most dangerous stunt of Cruise’s career , it featured a motorbike jump off a cliff that saw Cruise in free fall before opening a parachute and sailing to safety.

Director Christopher McQuarie confirmed the stunt was filmed on day one of production. In addition to being able to use it as a major marketing tool, another reason for it being scheduled so early in the production was so the filmmakers and crew had as much time and money as was possible to re-consider the filming process if the stunt went bad.

NEXT: Every 'Mission: Impossible' Movie Ranked From Worst to Best

• Mission: Impossible

Titanic Submersible Passenger Shahzada Dawood Survived Horrifying Plane Incident 5 Years Ago With Wife

Titanic submersible passenger shahzada dawood, who is now presumed dead along with his son suleman, had previously lived through a terrifying plane scare, according to his wife christine..

Years before Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son Suleman boarded the Titanic submersible , which authorities now presume imploded during a dive , the Pakistani businessman had survived a near-death incident.

Shahzada and his wife, Christine Dawood , experienced a horrifying plane scare, which she said prompted her to rethink her life afterwards, she wrote in a 2019 blog post on her career coaching website.

"The start was uneventful and so was most of the cruising but just as the seatbelt signs came on to alert us to our imminent landing approach, the plane took a deep plunge," Christine said of the incident. "I later read that a plane doesn't drop more than three to five metres during turbulence, but my stomach in that moment would beg to differ. The whole cabin let out one simultaneous cry, which turned to a whimper and then silence. Dead silence."

In those immediate moments, Shahzada reflected on "all the opportunities he'd missed and how much he still wanted to teach our children," Christine wrote. She recalled making a deal "with God, the universe, whoever was listening," that if she survived, she would quit smoking cigarettes.

"It went dark," Christine continued. "Storm clouds amassed around us, immersing the cabin in a strange kind of twilight. It was not quite light and yet not fully dark. It engulfed us, teased us and breathed fear into some and bravery into others."

People in the plane were praying, while others were nervously talking or crying, according to Christine.

"I was frightened like never before in my life," she added. "I wasn't even able to wipe away the tears running down my face or move my head to look around. Plunge! It wasn't over yet. Shake left, shake right! My head hit the window."

The captain then informed the passengers that he was going to attempt to land again from a different angle, Christine recalled, and the plane gained height out of the storm clouds for an all-too-brief moment of relief.

"As the plane turned, my side lifted forcing me to look down to my left," she wrote. "My husband faced me, our eyes locked and our hands interlinked. No words were needed. He was as scared as I was and yet we were together. ‘Until death do...' No, don't go there!"

As the plane shook "even heavier than before if that was even possible," Christine felt herself transported "into a form of a trance," while steadily holding her husband's hand until the aircraft finally touched down on the runway.

"We had survived," she recounted. "But I still couldn't move. I still couldn't comprehend. We were safely on the ground and yet my throat felt as if a noose was tightly around it. I felt a squeeze of my hand and heard somebody talking to me, but I was frozen still. It's then that I realised that my life had changed and would never be the same again."

Disaster, however, would strike Christine's family on June 18, when Titan—a 21-foot submersible Shahzada and Suleman were on to view the wreckage of the RMS Titanic—went missing an hour and 45 minutes into its expedition. Suleman was initially "terrified" to go, but boarded anyway to accompany his dad on the Father's Day excursion, his aunt Azmeh Dawood told NBC News .

Four days later, and following an  around-the-clock rescue mission , the five-person crew aboard the submersible were presumed dead by authorities, who found debris from the Titan "consistent with the catastrophic loss of the pressure chamber."

"These men were true explorers who shared a distinct spirit of adventure, and a deep passion for exploring and protecting the world's oceans," OceanGate, the company behind the Titan expedition, said in a statement on June 22. "Our hearts are with these five souls and every member of their families during this tragic time. We grieve the loss of life and joy they brought to everyone they knew."

To learn more about the five Titan passengers, keep scrolling.

On June 18, 2023, a deep-sea submersible Titan, operated by the U.S.-based company OceanGate Expeditions and carrying five people on a voyage to the wreck of the Titanic, was declared missing. Following a five-day search, the U.S. Coast Guard announced at a June 22 press conference that the vessel suffered a "catastrophic implosion" that killed all five passengers on board.

Pakistani-born businessman  Shahzada Dawood  and his 19-year-old son  Suleman Dawood , both British citizens, were also among the victims.

Their family is one of the wealthiest in Pakistan, with Shahzada Dawood serving as the vice chairman of Engro Corporation, per The New York Times . His son was studying at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland.

Shahzada's sister Azmeh Dawood  told NBC News that Suleman had expressed reluctance about going on the voyage, informing a relative that he "wasn't very up for it" and felt "terrified" about the trip to explore the wreckage of the Titanic, but ultimately went to please his father, a Titanic fan, for Father's Day.

The Dawood Foundation mourned their deaths in a statement to the website , saying, "It is with profound grief that we announce the passing of Shahzada and Suleman Dawood. Our beloved sons were aboard OceanGagte's Titan submersible that perished underwater. Please continue to keep the departed souls and our family in your prayers during this difficult period of mourning."

OceanGate CEO  Stockton Rush  was the pilot of the Titan. The entrepreneur—who founded the research company in 2009 in Everett, Wash.—had long been interested in exploration. Rush, 61, previously said he dreamed of becoming the first person on Mars and once said that he'd "like to be remembered as an innovator."

In addition to leading voyages to see the remnants of the Titanic, Rush had another surprising connection to the historic 1912 event: His wife Wendy Rush is the great-great-granddaughter of a couple  who died on the Titanic, Ida and Isidor Straus .

British billionaire Hamish Harding  confirmed he was a part of the mission in a June 17 Instagram post, a day before the submersible went into the water and disappeared.

"I am proud to finally announce that I joined @oceangateexped for their RMS TITANIC Mission as a mission specialist on the sub going down to the Titanic," he wrote. "Due to the worst winter in Newfoundland in 40 years, this mission is likely to be the first and only manned mission to the Titanic in 2023. A weather window has just opened up and we are going to attempt a dive tomorrow."

Harding—the chairman of aircraft company Action Aviation—said the group had started steaming from St. Johns, Newfoundland, Canada and was planning to start dive operations around 4 a.m. on June 18. The 58-year-old added, "Until then we have a lot of preparations and briefings to do."

His  past explorations included  traveling to the deepest part of the ocean in the Mariana Trench, telling Gulf News in 2021, "It was an incredibly hostile environment. To travel to parts of the Challenger Deep where no human had ever been before was truly remarkable."

The Dubai-based businessman also circumnavigated the Earth by plane with the One More Orbit project and, last year, took a trip to space on Amazon founder  Jeff Bezos ' Blue Origin New Shepard rocket. Harding shared his love for adventure with his son Giles , described as a "teen explorer" on his Instagram .

As for the fifth member, a representative for French explorer  Paul-Henri Nargeolet  told the  New York Times  that he was a passenger on the Titan, with Harding also referencing him on Instagram as a member of the team. 

The Times described him as a maritime expert who was previously part of the French Navy. The 71-year-old was a bonafide Titanic specialist and has traveled to the wreckage 35 times before. Nargeolet served as the director of RMS Titanic, Inc., a company that researches, salvages and displays artifacts from the famed ship, per the outlet. 

Alongside fellow passenger Hamish Harding, he was a member of The Explorers Club, founded in 1904.

As Harding noted in his post, the submersible—named Titan—was a part of an OceanGate Expeditions tour that explores the wreckage of the RMS Titanic, which infamously sank in 1912.

The company expressed its sympathies to the families of the victims. "These men were true explorers who shared a distinct spirit of adventure, and a deep passion for exploring and protecting the world's oceans," OceanGate said in a statement . "Our hearts are with these five souls and every member of their families during this tragic time. We grieve the loss of life and joy they brought to everyone they knew."

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As temperatures soar across the East Coast, Midwest, and Southeast, hundreds of millions of lives depend on air-conditioning powered by a grid that is strained to its breaking point. The fatal toll of recent heat-related blackouts in India demonstrates the stunning risk climate change poses to American cities, which rely on A/C even more than their Indian counterparts. 

The problem is simple: extreme heat — such as this week’s “heat bomb” over much of the US — drives us indoors and we need A/C to survive. And the resulting spike in electricity usage puts us at the greatest risk of losing power. 

Last year, the US power grid narrowly avoided a catastrophic failure, “ quietly surviving ” its most brutal summer yet. Scientists warn that future summers will not proceed so well. They calculate that a heat-driven blackout in Phoenix could send half of the city to the emergency room and lead to 13,000 deaths. In the weeks before June’s unprecedented heat, leading experts begged federal agencies to make immediate emergency plans before a heat-driven power failure kills millions of Americans. 

If we are to avoid that fate, we need to start by addressing climate change’s deadliest multiplier — the urban heat island effect (UHIE) — through technologies that do not rely on the grid.

The UHIE, in which heat-absorbing and heat-emitting man-made surfaces spike temperatures in our neighborhoods, is often what tips otherwise uncomfortable summer weather into fatal territory. New research shows that it is far more powerful than scientists previously imagined. And that by mitigating it, we can blunt the dangerous threat of extreme heat. 

The secret lies in understanding why the UHIE leaves people on certain blocks so much more vulnerable to heat-related death than their neighbors just a few steps away. 

Several years ago, Professor Vivek Shandas, a climate scientist at Portland State University, sought to explain a troubling trend. When a heat wave swept across his hometown in Oregon, fatalities were not distributed across the city as one might expect but instead highly concentrated in a few disadvantaged neighborhoods. He launched CAPA, an urban climate adaptation consultancy, in part to explain this mystery.

The volunteer-based, community-driven research campaigns that CAPA led produced some of the first high-resolution descriptions of ambient heat at the human level, providing precise, hyper-local data on how extreme heat affected cities around the world.

The results were staggering. Cities like Durham, Raleigh, and Oklahoma City, where scientists and city officials had thought temperatures varied by a few degrees at any given time of day, in fact had temperature differences between neighborhoods as high as 15°F. As the geographic distribution of heat-related deaths across the cities showed, these disparities were the difference between a sleepless night in an 80°F bed and dying of a heat stroke. 

Most surprisingly, the main factor that distinguished the coolest blocks from the hottest ones wasn’t the construction materials, such as concrete, that are usually blamed for the UHIE. Instead, it was the amount of trees and other vegetation in those areas.

Urban tree canopies and green spaces are our most potent weapons against the collision of the UHIE and climate change. Unlike air conditioning, which often cuts out when everyone cranks up their units — exactly when it is needed to save lives — vegetation’s cooling effect only grows the hotter an area gets. Large plants like trees and shrubs not only shade our homes on the days when the sun is most powerful, but they also cool our environment through evapotranspiration.

Even a young tree has a net cooling effect equivalent to 10 room-size air conditioners operating for 20 hours a day. Within 15 years, the effect doubles. 

Now, armed with maps like CAPA’s, we can see how dramatically the heat pockets in our communities line up with gaps in our greenery, and we can quantify the lives we could save through strategic interventions such as green walls, rooftop gardens and trees planted along our streets. 

These solutions are achievable within a short time frame. As we embark on yet another summer that promises to be more blistering — and more deadly — than the last, we need to use what we have learned to redesign our habitat. We should meet our neighbors under the shade of a nearby tree and build a plan to protect the most vulnerable among us. And we must demand that our municipal leaders fortify our homes for both the present and the future.

Nadina Galle, PhD, an ecological engineer and 2024 National Geographic Explorer, is the author of “ The Nature of Our Cities: Harnessing the Power of the Natural World to Survive a Changing Planet ,” out on June 18, 2024.

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• 2 cruise passengers die in Quark Expeditions' Zodiac boat...

2 cruise passengers die in Quark Expeditions' Zodiac boat accident in Antarctica

A couple of passengers aboard a cruise ship chartered by Quark Expeditions died after a zodiac boat overturned during a trip close to Elephant Island (Antarctica, South Shetlands) earlier this week.

Quark Expeditions confirmed the accident in a statement on Friday morning, November 18.

The polar adventure travel company wrote they were deeply saddened to confirm that there had been a tragic accident during a zodiac excursion from the World Explorer ship , chartered by Quark Expeditions, close to Elephant Island in the Antarctic on November 15, 2022.

The company confirmed that a zodiac boat carrying 6 passengers and 2 expedition staff had overturned near shore, resulting in 2 fatalities.

The weather conditions consisted of light winds/smooth sea, but indications were the accident had been caused by a breaking wave.

The other 4 passengers and 2 staff are recovering under the observation of the doctors and medical staff onboard, Quark Expeditions said.

The vessel is currently returning back to port.

The company said their priority right now was supporting them, their passengers, and crew while they investigated further.

“We will continue to work with, and offer our assistance to, those involved during this difficult time, including full cooperation with the relevant authorities.” 

At the time of the accident, World Explorer was on a 14-night South Georgia and Antarctic Peninsula Penguin Safari Cruise and Land Tour roundtrip from Ushuaia (Argentina) .

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Sitka and Juneau residents propose hard caps on cruise ships as tourism grows

Passengers from the Royal Caribbean Serenade of the Seas cruise ship wait to board buses into Sitka's downtown at the Sitka Sound Cruise Terminal on Tuesday, June 7, 2022. (Michelle Theriault Boots / ADN)

On June 18 a group of Sitka residents submitted a proposed cruise ship-limiting ballot measure to city officials for legal review.

Two days later, in Juneau, a different group of Alaskans submitted the last batch of signatures needed to put a different limit on the local ballot this fall.

With as many as 1.6 million cruise ship tourists expected to visit Southeast Alaska this year, a growing number of the region’s residents are seeking to put hard limits on the industry.

That comes even as Juneau prepares for a softer, voluntary limit that would be the first of its kind in Alaska.

In Sitka, it’s the third time that local residents have tried to put a limit on the ballot. Two prior attempts were rejected by the city’s attorney.

After those failures, organizers created a nonprofit, raised money, hired an attorney of their own, and are trying again with a new draft.

Klaudia Leccese is president of Small Town SOUL, the new nonprofit. She believes Sitka residents are fed up with overcrowding.

“I’m generally not much of a rabble-rouser. I’m a retired social worker,” she said.

This year, as many as 9,300 cruise ship passengers will visit Sitka on its busiest days, more than the town’s population of about 8,400. On 75 days, the number of tourists will be greater than half the population.

Sitka has only 14 miles of paved roads, and Leccese said the traffic caused by tour boats and tour buses has gotten out of hand. Lincoln Street, at the heart of downtown, is sometimes closed because the crowds are too large.

Tour buses run from one end of the town’s road network to the other, shuttling between the cruise ship dock and Fortress of the Bear, where animals live in captivity.

She said she and her husband frequently take their small boat down the coast for a getaway, but even there, they’re awoken by the wakes of passing tour boats.

“You go, wow, I think these wildlife and fishing charters are just a few too many,” she said.

The newly drafted Sitka proposal would limit the number of cruise ship passengers to 300,000 per year, with no more than 4,500 per day. Sitka is expected to see about 600,000 cruise tourists this year.

Small ships — those with fewer than 250 passengers — wouldn’t be included in the limit. That would protect locally run companies, including Alaskan Dream Cruises , which is based in Sitka.

Large ships wouldn’t be allowed before May 1 or after Sept. 30, and the city Assembly could shrink that window.

“Some businesses are uncomfortable with cruise ships starting in April,” Leccese said, because high school and college students — who make up much of the seasonal workforce — aren’t yet available.

Sitka officials are reviewing the proposed measure for legality and will respond by July 2, the city clerk’s office said. If the measure passes legal muster, backers would need to gather 334 signatures to place it on the local October ballot. To call a special election, 556 signatures would be needed.

In Juneau, a proposed ballot measure would install “ship-free Saturdays,” forbidding large ships from landing on that day.

Karla Hart, one of the measure’s backers, said supporters had needed 290 more signatures on their petitions after a preliminary review, and on Thursday, she drove to city hall to drop off 427 more.

If the signatures are certified, the initiative will be on Juneau’s Oct. 1 municipal ballot .

“We should be good to go,” Hart said.

Originally published by the Alaska Beacon , an independent, nonpartisan news organization that covers Alaska state government.

Oceania cruise ship rescues 68 migrants from stalled fishing boat, 6 dead

MADRID - A luxury cruise ship  rescued 68 migrants trying to reach the Spanish Canary Islands in a fishing boat that had stalled in rough seas, Spanish authorities and the cruise operator said on Thursday.

Six people died in the incident.

The archipelago has become the main point of entry to Spain for illegal migrants from Africa in recent years and the route is also the deadliest. Migration rights group Walking Borders said last week that nearly 5,000 migrants died at sea on that route during the first five months of 2024.

Bulk carrier Philipp Oldendorff sighted the boat adrift 440 nautical miles (815 km) south of the island of Tenerife on Wednesday and provided first assistance to the migrants, while the Insignia cruise ship was diverted to the area to pick up the survivors, the Spanish Coast Guard said in a statement.

Cruise ship medical facilities: What happens if you get sick or injured (or bitten by a monkey)

The Insignia, which is owned by Miami-based  Oceania Cruises , also recovered three bodies from the boat. Bad weather prevented the recovery of another two bodies so the ship left a locating device to facilitate the search.

The small luxury cruise ship, which has a capacity of 670 passengers, is undertaking a 180-day trip around the world that started in January.

"Safety of life at sea is of paramount importance for all seafarers," said a spokesperson for Oceania Cruises, which is owned by Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd.

"We can confirm that the Insignia rescued 68 people from a vessel in distress between Cape Verde and Tenerife, brought them onboard for medical assistance and provided food, drinks, clothing and a safe place to rest," the spokesperson added.

A Spanish Coast Guard vessel was en route from the Canary Islands on Thursday to meet the Insignia and then locate the shipwreck.