The search for a 77-year-old cruise passenger who went overboard on Holland America Line cruise ship has been suspended.
According to the United States Coast Guard, the Nieuw Statendam was sailing north of Cuba when the incident happened. A 77-year-old woman went overboard and while the coast guard initially searched for the passenger for several hours, the search was called off.
At the time, the Holland America Line cruise ship was sailing around 40 miles northeast of Sabana, Cuba, when the woman went overboard on Thursday, January 1, 2026, according to the US Coast Guard Southeast.
“The captain and crew initiated search and rescue procedures and are searching the area working closely with the US Coast Guard which has deployed a cutter and helicopter to assist,” Holland America Line said in a statement.
The search was conducted by the crew of the Cutter William Trump and an MH-60 helicopter crew based in Air Station Clearwater, the Coast Guard confirmed.
#HappeningNow @USCG crews are searching for a 77-year-old woman who went overboard the cruise ship Nieuw Statendam approx. 40 miles NE of Sabana, Cuba, Thursday.#USCG Cutter William Trump & Air Station Clearwater MH-60 crews are conducting searches. #SAR pic.twitter.com/zHfu7lfMQH
— U.S. Coast Guard Southeast (@USCGSoutheast) January 1, 2026
As reported by the New York Times, the Coast Guard later issued an update, stating that it had suspended the search for the woman “pending the development of new information.” It also stated that cruise ship personnel and Coast Guard crews had searched the surrounding ocean for around eight hours, covering 690 square miles.
According to Holland America Line, the Nieuw Statendam sailed from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on December 27 for a seven-day Eastern Caribbean cruise. The cruise line added that due to the search, the ship had to cancel its planned call at Key West, Florida on Friday.
Holland America Line made a statement on Thursday, stating, “We are deeply saddened to confirm that while sailing in waters north of Cuba, a guest on Nieuw Statendam went overboard earlier today,” adding, “Our family assistance team is supporting the g
MARELLA EXPLORER 2 pic.twitter.com/YvkOCHuKiT
— Damir Car (@damir_car) May 12, 2024
A similar incident happened On December 2, 2025, when a 76-year-old British man fell from a cruise ship near the Canary Islands of Spain. He was enjoying an adults-only cruise on the Marella Explorer 2, a 14-deck cruise ship run by the British travel operator, TUI. However, on Monday, December 5, the Spanish coastguard announced that search and rescue efforts to locate the man were suspended.
“There’s no specific mobilization of resources today as part of what we would call an intensive search,” a spokesperson for the coastguard said, adding, “The active search involving the resources that were put in place on Thursday and Friday has been scaled down.”
At the time of the incident, the cruise ship was traveling from the Canary Islands in Spain to the Portuguese island of Madeira. The elderly man is believed to have fallen into the Atlantic Ocean around 16 miles off Tenerife’s most northwestern point.
Once the incident was reported, the cruise ship’s captain immediately slowed to a near-stop, prior to docking at the port of Santa Cruz de Tenerife. The crew immediately began reviewing camera footage, while launching marker buoys before conducting circular search maneuvers in an attempt to find the missing passenger.
