Passengers on board a Taylor Swift-themed cruise where a woman jumped overboard in the Bahamas have told of their shock.
The Royal Caribbean Allure of the Seas ship was about 17 miles from the capital, Nassau, when the 66-year-old was reported to have fallen overboard on Tuesday night.
Passengers said the unidentified woman fell from the 14th floor of the 236-feet tall ship at around 9.40pm, sparking concern and panic.
Ashley Sindaco, 38, and Marie Sindaco, 67, were aboard the Swift-themed ship when the woman fell off the 236-foot tall Allure of the Seas vessel - just 17 miles north of Nassau, Bahamas.
Speaking to TMZ Live, Ashley told how she left an entertainment show on the ship, only to hear repeated warnings over the boat’s tannoy.
When she tried to exit the deck, she found that the doors were locked.
“The doors were closed, there was somebody guarding it and everybody was yelling, ‘Someone jumped!’” she told TMZ Live on Wednesday.
She made her way to the top deck and found passengers and crew searching for the missing woman.
“I stayed up there for about three hours, just watching, praying and wondering what was happening,” she told the publication.
A sister ship, the Utopia of the Seas, also joined the search.
“Another sister ship came over, and we were both doing rotating searches, along with a plane and a helicopter that came around midnight,” she said.
“They were making a flower formation around both ships and the other four different ships in the water.”
The US Coast Guard said it was assisting the Royal Bahamas Defense Force in the search, NBC reported.
An HC-144 airplane crew and an MH-65 Dolphin helicopter crew were also drafted in to help search efforts.
A Royal Caribbean spokesperson said it was working with the local authorities and providing support and assistance to the guest’s family "during this difficult time".
Additional crews from the Royal Bahamas Defense Force and the US Coast Guard were still searching for the missing woman until approximately 2:45 pm on Wednesday afternoon.
The ship, which had several hundred Swifties on board, had left Florida on Monday as part of a fan-organised event called In My Cruise Era.
