Disturbing new details emerge about Spirit of Tasmania death

A man who died after going overboard on the Spirit of Tasmania cruise ship spent his final moments standing on the top deck of the boat and “looking tense and agitated,” witnesses say.

The 46-year-old man, who is from Cheltenham in Melbourne’s south-east, boarded the ferry at Geelong Harbor at around 6.45pm on Sunday.

At about 8 p.m., before the boat reached open water, passengers told crew members they had seen a man fall from the ship into Port Phillip Bay.

The staff counted everyone on board and realized someone was missing.

Search teams, including air and water units, were deployed to search the water between Portarlington and St. Leonards beaches.

His body was found off the coast of Geelong around 8:50 pm.

A man, who declined to be identified, told Daily Mail Australia that his elderly parents were on board at the time and saw the 46-year-old wandering the highest deck.

Witnesses said he looked “agitated” and kept switching seats before he died. Pictured: on an outdoor deck of the Spirit of Tasmania

“My dad said he looked a little tense or agitated … and was constantly switching seats,” he said.

Despite his strange behavior on board, the man said that “no one realized” the danger the 46-year-old was in.

He said people who saw the victim’s final moments were in various states of “shock and disbelief.”

While news of the death made national headlines, there was confusion on board with some customers telling their friends on social media that the man was alive and awaiting medical treatment.

At around 10pm, more than an hour after the body was found, a passenger wrote on Facebook, “He’s not dead, the captain just said he’s in a stable condition and the ambulance is waiting on the dock.”

A friend then responded and told him the passenger was dead.

Another passenger was mistakenly told the man had been rescued and back on board.

At around 8pm, passengers told crew members they saw a man diving off the ship into Port Phillip Bay (pictured)

However, a spokesman for the Spirit of Tasmania told Daily Mail Australia those reports were false.

He said there couldn’t have been any confusion because there was a ship-wide announcement telling customers that the passenger had died.

The ferry did not resume its journey to Devonport after the man’s body was recovered.

Instead, the boat turned around and was back in Geelong around 10:50 pm.

Victoria Police said the 46-year-old’s death was not considered suspicious.

A report is being prepared for the coroner.

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The man boarded the boat around 6:45 p.m. on Sunday evening (photo).