Coast Guard suspends search for Royal Caribbean cruise ship passenger who went overboard

The U.S. Coast Guard suspended its search on Thursday for a Royal Caribbean cruise ship passenger who went overboard, the agency confirmed in a news release.

The Quantum of the Seas passenger, identified as Warwick Tollemache, was on a cruise from Australia to Hawaii when he went overboard late Tuesday night about 500 nautical miles south of Hawaii’s Big Island, a Coast Guard spokesperson said. The cruise notified the Coast Guard of a man overboard at 11:03 p.m. Tuesday, the spokesperson said.

Crew members searched for about two hours after Tollemache went overboard before the cruise resumed its trip toward Hawaii, according to the officials. On Wednesday morning, a Coast Guard Air Station Barbers Point C-130 Hercules aircrew launched to continue the search. The Coast Guard arrived around 9 a.m. and the aircrew completed five searches over the course of six hours.

“After reviewing all relevant information of the case and discussing it with the next of kin, the Coast Guard has made the difficult decision to suspend the active search for the passenger aboard the Quantum of the Seas,” Kevin Cooper, a search and rescue mission coordinator for the Joint Rescue Coordination Center Honolulu, said in a news release.

Another passenger aboard the Quantum of the Seas posted about the incident on social media early on Wednesday. 

“Three medical emergencies and now a man overboard,” passenger Joshua Reynolds wrote on Facebook. “We have slowed down and are now turning around. Hope they are found.”

CBS News has reached out to Australian officials for comment. 

In December, a cruise passenger died after falling from the MSC Meraviglia, about 18 miles off the coast of Port Canaveral, Florida. 

Quantum of the Seas left Brisbane on April 12 and is expected to dock in Honolulu on Friday.