A cruise ship passenger, aged 19, fell overboard in the Caribbean on Tuesday. Both the Royal Caribbean cruise line and the passenger’s family are currently engaged in an ongoing search operation to locate him.
The man has been identified as Sigmund Ropich.
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Who is Sigmund Ropich?
Sigmund Ropich is 19 years old. He was on a cruise ship, the Wonder of the Seas, a Royal Caribbean ship, set sail from Port Canaveral, Florida, on August 27 for a seven-day voyage to the western Caribbean, in accordance with its itinerary.
Royal Caribbean in a statement to CNN said, “The ship’s onboard crew “immediately launched a search and rescue operation and is working closely with local authorities.” However, it is still not disclosed for how long Ropich went overboard and when the search began.
Rhode Islander Jenna Izzo, a traveler on the cruise liner, recorded the captain’s announcement that a search was being conducted using a voice recording app.
The ship’s captain said to the passengers over the intercom, “We actually have a report of a man overboard,” according to the voice note provided to CNN. The ship has been slowed down by us. “We have turned around and are returning to the position that we had at that time,” the recording said. With the help of our rescue boat and spotlight, we will begin the search and rescue efforts, and our crew members will be carefully looking and listening for any signs.
Izzo also recorded a nighttime video, where it can be seen the crew was making an effort to search Sigmund Ropich, using the ship’s spotlights.
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In the recent update, according to Ropich’s sister and a US Coast Guard official, the Cuban Border Guard is now in command of the hunt for Ropich. On Friday, Savannah Ropich said that the US Consulate had contacted the family to let them know that the Cuban Border Guard would no longer be performing maritime searches and would instead only be concentrating on conducting coastal and land-based search operations.