A 54-year-old woman is still missing after intentionally jumping off the Grand Princess cruise ship on Wednesday. The coast guard and the cruise ship resumed their search yesterday, however she has still not been found.
Another passenger claimed she saw the woman jump off of the ship into the Pacific Ocean and immediately notified the cruise staff. After watching the surveillance videos, the staff was able to confirm the she had, in fact, intentionally jumped off of the ship at approximately 1:00 p.m. It is believed that the jump was an apparent suicide attempt.
“This is very sad,” the Princess Cruises spokeswoman, Julie Benson, said in a statement. “This was not an accident. It was apparent that she went overboard intentionally.” She continued, “It’s very apparent from the witnesses and the video that this was her intention.”
The Grand Princess was on day three of a two week, round-trip cruise from San Francisco to Hawaii. When the passenger jumped, the ship was 750 miles northeast of Hilo, Hawaii.
While many have presumed her dead, Benson says their is a possibility she could still be alive. “The water is quite cold, and the seas are quite rough,” she said. “But it’s not inconceivable that she could have survived.”
The woman’s name is not being released until the family can be formally notified.
Image via Wikimedia Commons
