Cruise Ship Crew Member Goes Missing After Falling Into Mediterranean Sea, Search Underway

A shocking incident unfolded on board the Viking Star as a crew member went overboard while the ship was sailing between Crete and Sicily. The alarm was raised around 11:31 a.m. local time on Monday, October 27, triggering an immediate and expansive search effort, New York Post reported. 

The Viking Star, carrying 925 guests and 471 crew members, immediately activated its emergency response and began searching for the missing crew member in coordination with the Italian Coast Guard. Crew members deployed life rings and smoke flares to mark the location, and the ship circled the area repeatedly.

The Viking Star's eight-day, seven-night Mediterranean cruise had just begun in Athens, Greece, with stops in Turkey and Crete. On Monday, while sailing from Crete to Palermo, Sicily, a shocking announcement came over the PA system that a crew member had gone overboard. The news sent shockwaves through the ship, with passengers and crew rushing to the railings to scan the ocean.

A Fox News producer on board described the scene as "visibly shocking" to a waiter serving lunch, with one person exclaiming, "I see someone!" 

Meanwhile, the ship moved in slow circles around the spot where the crew member had gone overboard, as the Italian Coast Guard led the ongoing search operation. The cruise director announced that the search area had been expanded, but details about the missing crew member and circumstances of the incident remain unclear. 

The ship's itinerary includes stops in Sicily, Naples, and Civitavecchia, near Rome.