A male guest went overboard from a cruise ship sailing in Scotland.
Police Scotland said the incident took place in the North Sea, 40 nautical miles from the coastal town of Anstruther. Police were notified around 9 a.m. local time on Aug. 21, according to an emailed statement.
"A search and rescue operation, carried out by police and partner agencies, has been ongoing and a body has been recovered,” authorities told USA TODAY in an emailed statement.
The passenger was reported missing from Ambassador Cruise Line’s Ambition ship “after it was found that a guest was not where they were expected to be,” the company said in an Aug. 21 Facebook post. The ship was sailing from Lerwick in Shetland to Dundee at the time.
Ambassador Cruise Line told USA
TODAY in an email that police informed the company that "a body has been found in the search for a guest who reportedly fell overboard," but declined to share more specifics on the circumstances, citing the ongoing investigation.
Police Scotland said the missing man’s family had been notified but that formal identification of the body had not yet taken place. The incident “slightly delayed” the ship’s turnaround process, Ambassador noted in the Facebook post, but said passengers “due to travel on board Ambition should make their way to the port as per their embarkation schedule.”
“Ambassador remains committed to the safety and wellbeing of all our guests and crew,” the company added.
From 2009 to 2019, there were 212 overboard incidents globally involving guests and employees, according to statistics compiled for Cruise Lines International Association by consulting firm G.P. Wild (International) Limited and reviewed by USA TODAY. Only 48 people were rescued.
However, while the industry’s capacity grew by 68% during that time, the rate of those incidents fell by close to 35%.
“Every aspect of cruising is heavily regulated and monitored under international maritime law, as well as local jurisdictions,” CLIA previously told USA TODAY. “Overboard incidents are exceedingly rare. Cruise lines have implemented robust safety measures to help prevent incidents from occurring and have extensive protocols in place for crew to respond quickly in emergency situations.”
Nathan Diller is a consumer travel reporter for USA TODAY based in Nashville. You can reach him at ndiller@usatoday.com.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Cruise guest 'reportedly fell' overboard from ship near Scotland
