Why Do Passengers Fall Off Cruise Ships?
According to the Boston Globe, the body of a 59-year-old woman was recently recovered off the coast of Cape Ann after she fell off a cruise ship.
The news source reported that the US Coast Guard received a call on September 11 about a woman who had fallen overboard the 650-foot Seabourn Quest. The ship slowed down and rescue operations began when operators found out about the incident.
The Seabourn Quest is based out of the Bahamas, and was scheduled to leave Boston on a 10-day cruise bound for Montreal and Maine. Rockport Harbormaster officials recovered the woman’s body, describing the sea conditions as rough at the time of the incident.
According to reports, the FBI is handling the investigation into the incident.
How Often Do People Go Overboard on Cruise Ships?
Overboard incidents on cruise ships are rare, but they usually result in fatalities. In 2014, there were 22 man-overboard (MOB) incidents involving cruise lines, and as of last year, there were 245 incidents over the past decade.
Contributing factors to MOB incidents include alcohol, foul play and suicide. Most cruise ships are designed to prevent overboard incidents from occurring, so it is uncommon when shifts in travel or poor weather contribute to someone falling off a vessel.
Although rare, if your loved one is killed in a cruise ship overboard incident, talk to our maritime attorneys. We can conduct an independent investigation into the incident and determine if negligence played a role. It may be possible that a vessel was being operated in poor conditions or lacked safety mechanisms that could have prevented the incident from taking place.
In the video above, maritime injury attorney David Anderson explains the laws that apply to Americans injured on cruise ships.
Latti & Anderson LLP – Nationwide Maritime Attorneys