A 64-year-old Indian woman named Reeta Sahani has gone missing from a cruise ship while it was sailing through the Strait of Singapore from Penang, Malaysia. She and her husband, Jakesh Sahani, were on their way back to Singapore from Penang aboard the Spectrum of the Seas cruise ship. This incident was reported on Monday, which also happened to be the last day of their four-day cruise.
Jakesh, who is 70 years old, woke up to find his wife missing from their room on Tuesday morning. He tried to search for her on the large cruise ship but couldn’t find her. He then informed the ship’s crew, who told him that the ship’s overboard detection systems had been activated, indicating that something had fallen from the vessel into the Singapore Strait.
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The Singapore Strait is a busy shipping route, stretching 113 kilometers long and 19 kilometers wide, connecting the Strait of Malacca and the South China Sea with Singapore situated to the north.
Reeta’s son, Apoorv Sahani, who was not on the cruise, expressed that the family is still in the dark about his mother’s current status. He mentioned that his mother couldn’t swim and that his father had to undergo a lengthy police interview. The family has requested to see the CCTV footage, but they have not received it yet to confirm if it was indeed Reeta who went overboard. The ship’s crew believes she may have jumped into the water, but Apoorv finds it hard to believe and thinks she might still be on the ship, possibly stuck somewhere.
The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) stated that they were informed about the incident at around 7.50 am on Monday. The missing passenger was on the Cyprus-flagged Spectrum of the Seas cruise ship, and the MPA is coordinating the search efforts by issuing safety broadcasts to other vessels in the Singapore Strait and in the port to keep a lookout for any sightings and report them to the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre.
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The cruise ship, Spectrum of the Seas, is operated by Royal Caribbean, and they reported the incident to local authorities promptly. The company is providing support and assistance to Reeta’s family but refrained from commenting further to respect their privacy.
The cruise ship, Spectrum of the Seas, belongs to the Quantum-Ultra class, which is a larger and upgraded version of the Quantum-class ships, according to cruise tracking website Cruise Mapper. The ship had berthed in Singapore for investigation purposes and later departed for Nha Trang, Vietnam.
