MITHILA RAHMAN TUSI
A 41-year-old cruise traveler is missing after falling over the edge on a popular Caribbean cruise in the Bahamas.
Authorities said the Coast Watcher responded to a report of a passenger being cast off a cruise about 127 miles east of Charleston, South Carolina, around 7:17 p.m. Sunday.
The agency said the traveler, whose name has not been released, disembarked from the 'Vision of the Ocean' boat, setting off an epic search and rescue mission as night fell.
The Coast Guard said its efforts to find the traveler included dispatching two C-130 Hercules planes, one from North Carolina and one from Clearwater, Florida.
The rescue mission saw voyage stops set up as a strobe light frantically scoured the sea for nearly six hours.
Despite the groups' best efforts, the man has not been seen since Sunday on Imperial Caribbean Transport, which was dubbed the '8 Night Bahamas and Wonderful Day Occasion Voyage.'
Passengers said the voyage from Baltimore had been canceled on Friday.
Film student Jake Utzinger, 21, of New Jersey, told the Post & Dispatch that he was traveling with half of his family when the mishap occurred, with the commander reporting that one traveler fell over the edge around 7:45 p.m.
He said, 'I immediately felt in my stomach that one of our relatives had been swept away by the sea.'
Utzinger said the passengers would lend an 'extra set of eyes' to hustle past the ship.
Colin Shappy, another traveller, said he realized it was just before 7:15pm when he heard the party announce: 'Oscar! Oscar! Oscar! Starboard!'
The call is used lazily to alert others that someone has fallen over the edge.
"We were wondering what the deal was with that," he told WCBD.
'We also saw all the staff taunting each other,' he continued. 'They responded to the news, although no one at large understood what was happening.
'Then they made another announcement that explained what happened moments later.'
Following the news that the search for the missing traveler remains, Utzinger said that 'it's certainly going to be unpleasant with this journey that a family is experiencing the loss of someone they cherished.'
The voyage is set to continue cruising through the Caribbean through the end of the week, returning to Baltimore on Saturday after several more stop-offs, including the following in Port Canaveral, Florida.
As indicated by the company's site, the Vision of the Ocean ship has a full capacity of 2,000 travelers and 700 groups and is 915-feet in length.
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