Swifties aboard a Taylor Swift-themed Royal Caribbean cruise to the Bahamas on Tuesday witnessed a grim event as a 66-year-old woman fell from the ship’s 14th floor. The group embarked on the fun cruise aboard the Allure of the Seas vessel earlier this week, where they engaged in a lineup of activities like karaoke, dance parties, and other on-ship shows as they sailed through the sea. The Swifties’ entourage dubbed In My Cruise Era set sail from Miami on Monday for the four-night voyage. However, they had a shortlived excursion as tragedy struck on Tuesday night, about 17 miles north of Nassau.
Reports show the elderly woman aged 66, fell from the 236-foot tall vessel at about 9:40 pm, causing chaos among the other passengers, most of who hung around the deck to watch the ensuing drama unfold. According to the cruise company’s statement, the crew immediately launched search and rescue efforts to save the woman but had no luck finding her in the vast, dark oceans. The coast guards and the Royal Bahamas Defense Force also joined the search once alerted, employing airplanes and helicopters.
Speaking to TMZ, a representative for the Royal Bahamas Defense Force shared an update confirming the woman in fact jumped from the Taylor Swift-themed cruise ship, in contrast to the initial reports that she fell. Despite the rapid intervention and extensive search of the ocean area, the passenger is yet to be found, prompting authorities to declare her missing. Search and rescue efforts for the missing woman were officially called off on Wednesday, per TMZ.
Passenger Share Inside Account of Tragic Taylor Swift-Themed Cruise
Passengers from the shortlived excursion have come forward to share their versions of events. Ashley Sindaco, 38, and her mom Marie Sindaco, 67, who were part of the 400 Swifties who registered for the Taylor Swift-themed excursion recalled their experiences aboard the ship after the passenger jumped. She recalled the crew issuing warnings to passengers over the ship’s speakers, and taking precautionary measures like locking the exit doors on different decks. She told TMZ,
“The doors were closed, there was somebody guarding it and everybody was yelling, “Someone jumped!”
According to Ashley, several passengers and crew swooped in timeously to search for the overboard woman after she plunged into the sea. At some point, another ship, Utopia of the Seas also joined the search, with rescue planes and helicopters joining in by midnight. Like the mother-daughter duo, most passengers stayed up past midnight, hoping for a miracle which never came. While the entourage, In My Cruise Era boasted of a large number of Taylor Swift fans, it had no connection with the famed singer.
The grim incident comes barely three months after another group of Swifties experienced a bone-chilling tragedy in Southport, Merseyside. The July stabbing attack claimed the lives of three kids, injuring more. These victims, aged six to nine were attending a Taylor Swift-themed class when the 17-year-old suspect tragically attacked them. At the time, Taylor Swift led the string of tributes to the victims and their families, while condemning the Southport killings. The incident eventually led to riots within the country as false narratives and hate speech spread rapidly in the devastating aftermath.
