2 Fall Into Shark-Infested Waters on Carnival Cruise

Authorities searching for missing Australian couple
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted May 9, 2013 6:51 AM CDT
Updated May 9, 2013 8:00 AM CDT
2 Fall Into Shark-Infested Waters on Carnival Cruise
In this May 3, 2012 file photo, the first cruise ship of the season, the Carnival Spirit in Juneau, Alaska.   (AP Photo/Becky Bohrer, file)

Two Carnival Cruise passengers are believed to have fallen overboard last night, and authorities are today searching 300 square nautical miles off Australia's east coast in hopes of finding them. The Australian couple were discovered missing as passengers disembarked this morning after the Carnival Spirit docked at Sydney's Circular Quay, at the end of a 10-day journey. Police say surveillance camera footage shows that the 30-year-old man and 26-year-old woman fell from the ship's mid deck last night; the AFP reports they fell into shark-infested waters.

Investigators are having the video enhanced in a bid to determine whether the couple jumped or had fallen by accident. The ship has around 600 surveillance cameras that are constantly monitored, though no one reported seeing the fall at the time. No life preservers were missing from the ship; a missing life preserver might have indicated that one of the two had attempted to rescue the other. "This is a tragic event at the moment, but we're holding out hope we might be able to find these people alive," says a police spokesman. (More Carnival Cruise Lines stories.)

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