Miracle Rescue of MOB

[JamesG161]

A man fell overboard [MOB] on a recent Carnival cruise and managed to survive in the open waters for up to 15 hours. The U.S. Coast Guard rescued the cruise passenger in what is being hailed as a "Thanksgiving miracle."

An unidentified 28-year-old man was a passenger on a cruise on the Carnival Valor ship on a journey from New Orleans, Louisiana, to Cozumel, Mexico.

Carnival Cruise Line said the man was at a bar on the cruise ship until around 11 p.m. on Wednesday, when he left to use the bathroom. He never returned. His sister assumed he went back to his room. She reported him missing the next day.

The cruise ship was thoroughly searched for the man, but he was nowhere to be found. The Carnival Valor crew notified the Coast Guard of the missing man at approximately 2:30 p.m.

The Coast Guard dispatched an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter, a 45-foot response boat, and an HC-144 Ocean Sentry airplane to attempt to locate the man. The search extended more than 200 miles in the Gulf of Mexico.

The Coast Guard received a tip from a large carrier ship that a person was in the water roughly 20 miles south of the Southwest Pass in Louisiana.

Here is the Video by the USCG.

This info courtesy of this link.
Video: Coast Guard rescue of cruise passenger who fell overboard for up to 15 hours hailed as a 'Thanksgiving miracle'

The MOB was responsive and could walk.

Jim...

 

[kloudie1]

That is a lucky dude.. He doesn't need to buy any lottery tickets because he just used up all of his luck for many years!..

 

[Don S/V ILLusion]

gotta love 80degreeF water.

 

[Ralph Johnstone]

Carnival Cruise Line said the man was at a bar on the cruise ship until around 11 p.m. on Wednesday, when he left to use the bathroom. He never returned.

Obviously a sailboater. Was taking a leak over the stern and with a few too many drinks in him, and over he went. Could have happened to any one of us.

 

[shemandr]

Do we need to put PLB's on cruise ship passengers?
He is indeed a lucky guy. Whether he knows it or not he is practicing survival swimming. That is he periodically allowing his head to go under water and basically comes up for air. At least when I became a Water Safety Instructor that was the dogma. The practice conserves energy but keeps you oxygenated. The alternative is to try to climb out of the water which quickly exhausts anyone. It looks like he's about to go down, and I can't say he isn't, but he may have been trained.
Cruise ships have a lot of bathrooms. Use them!

 

[Leeward Rail]

Do we need to put PLB's on cruise ship passengers?

Nope. Stuff happens to stupid drunk people and I am in support of consequences of actions.

I wonder if we will ever find out the reason. So far the "why" has been conspicuously absent from reports. my first thought was suicide attempt which he realized was a bad choice.

Lord knows, if I was on a cruise ship I would likely want to throw myself over the side at some point.

 

[JamesG161]

My take on time line and training by the "team".

1) MOB last seen 11pm --> Reported Missing next day or say 8am.
2) well trained Carnival ship crew searches ship
3) Ship reports MOB at 2:30pm to USCG
4) USCG alerts all sea traffic in area of the 200 mile trek. Launches search craft.
5) Nearby ship hears USCG and responds of Person in Water and GPS location of sighting,

Now a guess...
Although water temps in 80's , not so warm in the South Pass of Mississippi River's cooler water outflow.

Air temps on a moving boat deck ≈50F

MOB had warm clothes on.

Jim...

 

[dsims]

Nothing short of a miracle. This guy spent 15 hours afloat with zero survival gear or flotation devices. Then the CG actually was able to find him in a vast area of the Gulf. Its hard enough to recover a MOB after a few hours missing, if they can stay afloat long enough. Incredible.

 

[BigEasy]

Will be interesting to see the full account of this incident. In any event, he had to be in excellent condition with some water based survival training to stay afloat for 15+ hours. Very fortunate that he was located & rescued. Current in the Gulf can be quite treacherous.

 

[Calif. Ted]

Wouldn't it take some effort to fall off a cruise ship? I'm certainly not familiar with them but thought they'd make the rails tall enough to enclose children and drunks.
Either trained or fortunate, Once had a very large student in a swim class who could float for days, could barely submerge with the greatest effort.

 

[Leeward Rail]

Once had a very large student in a swim class who could float for days, could barely

Makes sense. Large amounts of fat would also insulate.

 

[BigEasy]

Cruise vessel safety & security act (CVSSA) of 2010 mandates a minimum deck railing height of 42”. That is fairly high for people of average height unless you are climbing on railing to take a leak or leaning too far over the railing while drunk and puking your guts out. Let’s not forget about those that would climb and stand on the railing to get the greatest “selfie” to post on social media.