A desperate search is underway to find a 72-year-old woman who fell overboard from a cruise ship in the middle of the Atlantic.
The pensioner was last seen on the Marella Voyager late on Monday afternoon as the ocean liner sailed from Malaga to the Caribbean.
The Daily Mail understands the alert was first raised on Tuesday evening after a cabin steward noticed the pensioner’s bed had not been slept in the night before.
Stunned holidaymakers were told to abandon dinners, drinks and evening entertainment as the crew launched an urgent headcount and overboard search.
Despite a full ship-wide hunt, the woman remains missing. Holiday operator Tui, which runs the vessel, said security teams are continuing to review CCTV footage in hope it will shed a fresh clue.
However, the 866ft vessel has already sailed about 550 miles from where the passenger may have toppled into the sea and will be unable to turn around for her.
Instead, the US Coast Guard Rescue Coordination Centre in Norfolk, Virginia, has issued an alert calling on any ships nearby to ‘keep a sharp look out’ for the woman.
The disappearance unfolded as the Marella Voyager was battered by a powerful Atlantic storm that left some passengers terrified and others seasick.
Passengers aboard Marella Voyager were ordered to muster stations last night while the captain declared a ‘Code X-Ray’, the signal used when a person is suspected of going in water
Crew members standing in a line aboard Marella Voyager last night amid the emergency signal
A Tui spokesman told the Mail: ‘A guest has gone missing on board the ship, but nothing suggests weather played a part in the guest’s disappearance.
‘The cabin steward raised an alarm after noticing the guest’s bed hadn’t been slept in. A full search of the ship then took place, and it was reported to the authorities.’
The ocean liner, carrying around 2,000 passengers and 800 crew, left Malaga on November 4 and was due to arrive in Antigua on Friday before calling at Dominica and finishing its voyage in Barbados on Sunday.
The first sign of concern came at 7.30pm on Tuesday when a female passenger was asked to report to reception. The request was repeated ten minutes later.
Fears intensified when at around 9pm, guests were urgently told to rally at one of four muster stations around the ship as the crew scrambled to work out if the missing woman was still aboard.
Worried holidaymakers stood in lines of four while staff scanned boarding cards to verify every person on the cruise liner.
One crew member told assembled passengers: ‘Unfortunately, we do have a missing person. This is the only way we can find out if they’re on board or not.’
Another sought to reassure worried guests, saying: ‘This is just to check who’s here. Do not move ahead and think we have to leave the ship.’
During a ship-wide broadcast on Wednesday evening, the ship’s Romanian captain Silviu Mitrea broke the news to passengers that the woman was still ‘missing’.
Thanking guests for their assistance ‘when you came to your muster stations last night’, Captain Mitrea said: ‘I want to explain why. I’m sorry to tell you that one of our guests has been reported missing.’
Marella Voyageris a TUI-operated cruise ship, which carries 2,000 passengers and 800 crew
The crew had ‘conducted the relevant searches straight away’, he added, before asking passengers to contact guest services if they had any information.
The missing passenger has not been identified. The Mail understands efforts are still being made to identify her next of kin.
The disappearance comes after days of powerful Atlantic storms battered the Marella Voyager that left some passengers terrified and others seasick.
Strong winds and powerful waves rocked the 77,302-ton cruise ship, causing items to crash to the floor as the vessel heeled over violently.
‘[I’ve] never experienced rough seas like this in all the 20 years of cruising. It’s bad,’ one passenger wrote on social media.
‘We were on deck 11 sitting inside as it was pouring down. We heard this huge bang as if we had hit something. The ship started to go onto its side and we could see the water through the windows.’
Holidaymakers also claimed there had been two medical helicopter evacuations during the Malaga to Caribbean cruise and one land-based ambulance before it even left the Spanish city.
‘This cruise is cursed,’ one holidaymaker said.
On Sunday, a pianist who performed aboard Royal Caribbean cruise ship Ovation of the Seas was found fighting for his life after spending nearly nine hours treading water in the Pacific Ocean.
He was plucked from the water by two Californian fishermen about 20 miles off the coast of Catalina Island. Investigators are still trying to determine how he ended up in the water.
