Passengers on the Norwegian Spirit not only witnessed the horrific moment when a man fell overboard from the cruise ship, but also captured it on video.
According to the New York Post, the Norwegian Spirit was en route to Taiwan on August 8, 2024, when the man fell overboard in the shocking incident. Fellow passenger Kenji Lao Wang was filming his family from the ship’s balcony when the man was seen falling into the sea. Kenji described his family’s experience in a YouTube video, commenting: “Everyone was scared.”
(Image is from Kinji’s video shared on YouTube. We did not capture the footage of the man falling.)
The terrifying video currently circulating on social media shows the family taking photos of the view when a man falls into the top left corner of the video frame. In a split second, the man can be seen falling overboard from the Norwegian Spirit and plummeting towards the sea.
In the video, the family is stunned when they hear a loud splash. Other guests on board can also be heard screaming in horror. The passengers are then seen rushing to alert the ship’s security team that the man has fallen overboard. The video also shows crew members rushing to help during the horrific incident.
“I was really scared at that moment. I didn’t even know what I was taking. I just wanted to fully record the situation that was happening at that moment,” Kenji explained in the comments section of his YouTube video.
A witness reported: “We were on deck at the time, surveying the area and simply looking out to sea, when we heard a huge noise. Everyone looked at us and someone noticed that a passenger had fallen into the sea.”
Kenji continued to document the aftermath of the frightening incident, including the crew members’ quick response to the man who had fallen overboard. In his YouTube video, Kenji shows the lifeboats launched and searching for the man in the sea. The water appears to be fairly calm, with few waves and clear weather, likely facilitating recovery efforts.
Kenji’s video also shows passengers and crew gathering on the ship’s deck to watch the lifeboats being recovered. “Everyone was on the boat watching the lifeboats,” another passenger on board the Norwegian Spirit said at the time of the incident, according to The Sun.
The New York Post reports that the ship stopped for 40 minutes before finding the body of the man, who was pronounced dead at the scene. The victim was identified as a 30-year-old Taiwanese man, but further details have not been released.
Authorities have only released the surname of the passenger who fell overboard, Li. The passenger who fell overboard was reportedly alone at the time of the incident, although he boarded the cruise ship in Taiwan with his brother, according to The sun.
According to local news reports, the Norwegian Spirit was on a chartered 6-day cruise from Taiwan with stops in Nagasaki, Japan and Juju Island, South Korea. The ship was at sea when the man fell overboard as it was returning to Taiwan at the end of the cruise.
In addition, the New York Post states that initial investigations suggest the man may have fallen overboard after losing his footing on the Norwegian Spirit’s upper deck; however, Norwegian Cruise Line has not confirmed the reason for the man’s fall overboard. The incident reportedly occurred around 11 a.m. during the sea day while departing from the South Korean island of Juju.
According to LADbible, Norwegian Cruise Line issued the following official statement on the incident: “On the morning of Thursday, August 8, 2024, we were informed that a 30-year-old male guest fell overboard while the ship was en route from the South Korean island of Jeju to Keelung, Taiwan.”
“The onboard team immediately took action to rescue the guest. After we quickly reached him, life-saving measures were taken on board the ship, but unfortunately he did not survive.”
In addition, Norwegian Cruise Line stated that the victim’s family has been notified and is being supported during the difficult situation. “We are assisting them in making appropriate death arrangements. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family during this tragic time.”
Norwegian Cruise Line states that the company is working closely with the relevant authorities and is currently conducting a full investigation into the incident.
Overboard incidents on cruise ships are extremely rare, and searching for passengers at sea is even more difficult. According to a report by the Cruise Line International Association (CLIA), guests who fall overboard on a cruise ship are unlikely to be found. According to CLIA, of the 212 incidents between 2009 and 2019, only 28.2% of those who fell overboard were recovered.
Norwegian Spirit, the oldest ship in Norwegian Cruise Line’s fleet, was originally built in 1999 and underwent a $100 million renovation in 2020. The ship currently sails in Asia and is homeported in Taiwan.
The ship is rather small by today’s standards: it measures 75,904 gross tons, has 13 decks and can accommodate 2,032 passengers. Norwegian Spirit is currently chartered under a long-term agreement between Norwegian Cruise Line and Taiwan-based tour operator Lion Travel. Under the contract, the ship will offer short voyages from Taiwan between June 2024 and September 2024.
