The U.S. Coast Guard on Sunday announced that it had suspended search operations for a man who fell overboard from a Royal Caribbean cruise ship, The Navigator of the Seas . As reported by the Inquisitr yesterday, the 46-year-old man identified as David Mossman fell overboard from the ship at around 11 p.m., on Saturday night. He was a Texas resident. The cruise ship was near the coast of Florida, in Key Largo, when the incident was reported.
Initial reports said that the man fell from a height of nearly 100 feet. The Coast Guard press release says that he had fallen from the 10th deck of the ship. Almost two days since the incident, there is still no clarity on how Mr. Mossman fell off a stateroom balcony. There were unverified reports which said that the man had a marital dispute before he jumped off the ship.
Several passengers claimed that the man had jumped and that he did not fall off the ship. An Inquisitr reader who claimed to be on the ship also confirmed on our Facebook page that the man had indeed jumped off the ship. Another passenger had, earlier in a series of Twitter updates, said that it was not an accident and that the man had jumped — all of which point to the possibility of this being a suicide.
We are embedding the tweets from the woman who was onboard the cruise ship when the incident occurred. Here is what she said.
#headlinenews – individual jumps overboard on Royal Caribbean’s Navigator of the Seas @ ~11 pm eastern time on Fri/March 4!!
— Dawn DeBlaze (@JazzNews) March 5, 2016
#headlinenews – I am on Royal Caribbean’s “Navigator of the Seas” with my cousin Donna when an individual jumped… https://t.co/YYmpBKl1qh
— Dawn DeBlaze (@JazzNews) March 5, 2016
In a Facebook post she also posted pictures of a helicopter that was used for search and rescue efforts and said that ship crew members used a spotlight to look for the man shortly after the incident.
After the crew members onboard the ship were alerted about the incident, they launched a search operation which continued until a U.S. Coast Guard team took over from them. The Navigator of the Seas circled the area where the man fell into the water for several hours, without luck. After the U.S. Coast Guard was alerted, they initially combed an area spanning 961-square miles in search of the man. The official Twitter handle of the U.S. Coast Guard, South East, posted updates pertaining to the operation. Earlier today, they confirmed that the search operation was widened to cover an area of 1,676-nautical-square miles (2,219 square miles).
#HappeningNow USCG crews continue search for man who fell from cruise ship. Total area searched up to 1,676 sq nm.
— USCGSoutheast (@USCGSoutheast) March 6, 2016
A few hours later, the same Twitter handle announced the suspension of the search operation.
#HappeningNow USCG suspends search for man who fell from cruise ship off Key Largo, Florida.
— USCGSoutheast (@USCGSoutheast) March 7, 2016
An ABC News report has included a quote from Chris Eddy, search-and-rescue technical specialist at the Coast Guard 7th District.
“We want to extend our condolences to the family and friends of Mr. Mossman as the decision to suspend a search is never an easy one to make and is done with great care and deliberation. Unfortunately, despite our best efforts and an exhaustive search, our crews were unable to locate him.”
When the search was called off, the U.S. Coast Guard had searched an area of over 2.583-nautical-square miles.
Earlier, Royal Caribbean had issued a statement regarding the incident.
“Royal Caribbean’s Care Team is providing support to the guest’s family and our thoughts and prayers are with them.”
The Navigator of the Seas resumed its journey to Port Everglades, Florida, following the incident and arrived there on Saturday morning.
[AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar]
