Authorities have suspended their search for the Australian man who went overboard from a cruise ship in the Pacific.
A US Coast Guard plane carrying out the search exhausted its fuel supply around 3pm after setting out to the destination at 7am.
The man went overboard on a cruise ship 1400km south of the Hawaii coast.
It happened shortly after a woman died during a medical emergency on the vessel. However the two incidents are not linked and the pair did not know each other.
The Royal Caribbean Quantum of the Seas ship was two days from reaching its port in Hawaii when tragedy struck on Wednesday — 15 days after the vessel departed from Brisbane docks.
The ship has resumed its course and rescue crews have deployed a Hercules aircraft fitted with a GPS system and cameras in hope it will help with efforts to find the man, who disappeared at about 11pm.
“While on its trans-pacific sailing, a guest onboard Quantum of the Seas went overboard,” a Royal Caribbean spokesperson told news.com.au.
“The ship’s crew immediately launched a search and rescue operation and is working closely with local authorities.”
The cruise line’s captain immediately brought the ship to a halt following the news, with staff launching a search and rescue operation.
There reports early on Thursday that the missing man was the partner of someone who died on the ship following a medical emergency.
However, news.com.au has confirmed that the medical emergency and the man going overboard were two isolated incidents — and the the pair were not known to each other.
A Royal Caribbean spokesperson said: “Out of respect for the family, we will not share further details about this unfortunate event.”
2GB breakfast host Ben Fordham read a passenger’s email from onboard the ship.
“Some saying cameras on deck saw [a man] go over. Others saying crew has confirmed the passenger did go over last night and there was only so much they could do’,” Mr Fordham said, reading out the man’s email.
Melbourne man Adam Glezer, who is on the ship with his wife and four-year-old child, told news.com.au an announcement of ‘Oscar’ – meaning person overboard – was made over the intercom at about 7pm Sydney time.
“They didn’t make a big deal about it. It was mainly for staff and crew but an hour later things got more serious,” Mr Glezer said.
“They started doing announcements over the loudspeaker saying ‘potential man overboard’ and that everyone had to go back to their room.”
Mr Glezer said passengers were in their rooms for about 90 minutes before they were able to leave again.
“They were repeatedly calling for a fella on deck 12 who they called about four times,” he added.
“They were telling him to go to reception but repeated it four times – they then turned the ship around to look for this fella.”
Mr Glezer described it as a “surreal” feeling as the entire ship was quiet – music turned off and everyone was confined to their rooms.
“I called Mum to let her know we are OK. After that they reopened the bars – I went down. It was just packed with people wanting to know what happened.
“I have spoken to workers who have been working on ships for years and they said they have never seen anything like this happen before.”
It’s not believed there were any suspicious circumstances.
The ship was due to dock in Honolulu after stopping in Tahiti in the days prior. It has since resumed its journey to the resort town Kona on Hawaii’s Big Island.
Other ships in the area have been advised to keep a lookout for the overboard passenger, after an amber alert was issued. A request was also made to the US navy in a bid to ramp up search efforts.