Oct. 27 (UPI) — A crew member aboard a Viking cruise in the Mediterranean went overboard Monday, and the Italian Coast Guard is searching for the employee.
The crew member was seen going overboard on the Viking Star at about 11:30 a.m. CET. The cruise was carrying passengers from Greece to Italy and was scheduled to dock in Palermo, Sicily, next. Instead it was rerouted to the Port of Messina, Sicily.
The ship’s emergency response was activated, and a search operation began with the Italian Coast Guard, Viking Cruises said in a statement. No further details about the person or the circumstances of their falling overboard were released.
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A Fox News producer on board the ship said a crew member was seen tossing an orange life ring into the ocean before lowering a smaller ring with an attached flare into the water minutes later. The ship was circling the area while the Italian Coast Guard did a maritime search.
The cruise director later announced to the ship that the search area was expanded.
The missing crew member was on the second deck when the incident happened, Fox News reported.
Passengers have posted that the ship was moving on and the crew member was still not found.
The Viking Star can carry up to 930 passengers and about 500 crew.
