A video that gained over 600,000 views on TikTok blasted Carnival Cruise for not alerting other passengers of the disappearance of a man, instead sending them a survey asking how their holiday was.
A woman has blasted Carnival Cruise for not alerting other passengers to the disappearance of a man, instead sending them a survey asking how their holiday was.
In a video that has gained over 600,000 views on TikTok, Jenn Lyles claimed she was on the cruise ship with Kevin McGrath, 26, the man who went missing on 4 September on the Carnival Conquest cruise ship.
Mr McGrath was last seen in his cabin at 2am by his brother, said Carnival in a statement. Mr McGrath was supposed to meet his family for breakfast on the ship before it docked at Port Miami, but never turned up, authorities said. By 7am, the family filed a missing persons report.
Ms Lyles, who stated she did not know the missing person but was aboard the same ship, said that she only found out about the incident through scrolling on the news on her phone.
She said that one morning, she got an email from Carnival Cruises asking her to fill out a survey on her experience on the cruise.
“How about an email that says, ‘Hey, there’s a guy missing. Did you see him? He wasn’t seen past 2 a.m., he never showed up to meet his family for breakfast. This is his photo,’” Lyles said.
She said that she was never alerted by the cruise company that the incident had happened.
“Is this what happens when you go missing on a cruise ship? They’re not even going to alert the other passengers who might have seen something?” Ms Lyles continues in the video.
She adds that her friends have been in contact with Mr McGrath’s family, who said that when they post the missing persons poster on the Carnival Facebook page, it keeps getting taken down, she alleges.
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A spokesperson for Carnival Cruise Line gave a statement to The Independent on the content of the TikTok video. They said, “On the morning of Sept. 4, a guest reported a family member missing after Carnival Conquest had returned to PortMiami and guests were already disembarking from the ship. Local law enforcement is in charge of the investigation and our team members have fully cooperated with officials,” the statement read.
“We’re not sure what the survey sent to guests has to do with this as it is a routine post-cruise communication. If the guest in the TikTok video had information to share, she should have contacted us or Miami Dade Police, but as her comments suggest, she does not have anything to contribute to the investigation.”
Missing Carnival passenger Kevin McGrath
(Miami-Dade Police)
After Mr McGrath went missing, an “extensive search” of the boat was carried out. The Coast Guard reportedly searched around the Port of Miami and along the South Florida shore to try and find Mr McGrath.
Miami police officers also joined the search to try and locate the man who “may be in need of services,” according to police.
“The guest was not detected by surveillance systems, including U.S. Customs and Border Patrol during the debarkation process,” said a spokesperson for Carnival.
“A search of the ship’s cameras and security devices did not indicate he went overboard,” a police spokesperson told The New York Post.
The cruise ship had just returned from a four-day sail around the Bahamas, before returning to Miami.
The ship was cleared by the police in order for Carnival Conquest to set sail again, and has now completed multiple trips back and forth to the Bahamas, according to CruiseMapper.
This incident has come just after a man, 19, named Sigmund Ropich fell overboard on the world’s largest cruise ship, Wonder of the Seas, last week.
Other incidents have also occurred on Carnival cruise ships, such as a man who went missing on the Carnival Magic in the Gulf of Mexico in November, however, he was fortunately found.
It is estimated that 19 people go overboard on cruise ships each year, and only around four people are rescued, according to Insider.