A Man Fell From a Cruise Ship. And Survived.

The Carnival Valor had only been on the water for a day when the calls came over the loudspeaker.

A 28-year-old American citizen was reported missing by his family.

The Valor, a cruise ship that had left New Orleans the day before, was on its way to Mexico.

The crew members began to search the cabins of the passengers. One employee went to her cousin's cabin and said, "We just need to make sure everything is okay."

Ms White said they didn't know what was happening. The ship needed to change course in order to execute a search and rescue mission.

Ms. White thought the passenger was alone in the water.

I wonder if they fell to the bottom. The sharks might have gotten them. Ms. White said that she thought. She started to think.

The passenger, according to the Coast Guard, was a man named James who had been on a cruise with his family. The family last saw him the night before.

The family notified the crew when there was no sign of him.

More than nine hours after his family reported him missing, a passing tanker spotted him near the mouth of the Mississippi River.

Mr. Grimes tried to keep his head above the water as rescuers tried to save him.

Video

He was in shock when the helicopter lifted him out and he was very dehydrated. He was in a stable state.

In the Gulf of Mexico, where bull sharks and blacktip sharks are common, Mr. Grimes had treaded in 65 to 70 degree water for hours, withstanding rain, 20-knot winds and three to five foot waves.

Lieutenant Gross described the case as extraordinary. The will to survive is insane.

A cruise passenger might fall from a ship into the sea. According to statistics from the Cruise Lines International Association, the chances of going over the side of the ship are very low.

There were 25 people who fell off the boat in 2019.

A woman jumped off the 10th deck of the Carnival Valor in February after security officers tried to take her into custody. She was never found.

A man fell off the 12th deck of a cruise ship after a night of heavy drinking. A jury decided in favor of Royal Caribbean when his parents sued them.

According to Ross Klein, a professor of social work at Memorial University of Newfoundland, at least 11 percent of falls from cruise ships are alcohol related.

The views of cruises are reinforced by advertising and public statements. He said that the public should be aware of the risks of going on a cruise, including being pushed over, going over and being tempted to jump over.

Professor Klein said that railings have to be at least 42 inches tall. After Congress began considering legislation to tighten security on ships, there were attempts to make the railings taller. The railing height requirements were set in 2010 when the Cruise Vessel Security and Safety Act was passed.

Brian Salerno is the senior vice president for maritime policy at CLIA.

Most cases are either reckless behavior or intentional act. People fall over the side of ships.

Professor Klein said cruise ships could limit the risks of passengers falling off if they limited alcohol consumption, increased railing heights and installed technology that senses heavy objects falling from the ship.

The law directed cruise ships to develop and install such technology.

He said that it took years to create a video-surveillance system that would be sensitive enough to detect a person falling off a ship, but that wouldn't be triggered by other objects. The systems have been installed on some ships.

Robert Kritzman, a partner at Clyde & Co., an international law firm in Miami, who advises cruise companies, said that bartender's are trained to watch for excessive drinking.

He said that the general policy is the same as everywhere else.

The only way to go over the top is to climb over the safety barriers.

The company thanked the Coast Guard and the mariner who found Mr. People shouldn't ever climb up on the rails.

Questions about the incident or Carnival's safety protocols were not answered by a spokesman.

There are clear protocols for what to do when a person goes over the side of a cruise ship.

When the crew learns that a passenger has gone off the ship, they immediately inform the Coast Guard, stop the ship and look for the passenger. Smaller boats are often deployed from the ship to look for someone.

The exact time that Mr. Grimes went over the side of the Carnival Valor remains a mystery. The Coast Guard was looking into the matter.

Lieutenant Gross said that the Coast Guard launched a patrol boat, a helicopter, and a plane to look for the passenger after learning of his disappearance. He said that the Coast Guard set up a search area of more than 7,000 square nautical miles, roughly the size of Massachusetts, and immediately sent out a distress signal to any ships in the gulf.

There is a channel at the mouth of the Mississippi River south of Southwest Pass.

Lieutenant Gross told the man's mother and stepbrother that he had been found.

He heard them cheer and cry when he told them their son was stable.

Ms. White said she was flooded with relief when the ship announced that Mr.

She said that she was thankful that he survived.

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