Student Sigmund Ropich, 19, is identified as passenger who went overboard on Wonder of the Seas cruise ship
The passenger who tragically fell overboard on the world’s largest cruise ship has been identified as a Washington state college student vacationing with his friends.
Sigmund Ropich, 19, was aboard Royal Caribbean’s Wonder of the Seas off the coast of Cuba when he fell into the sea Tuesday night, according to his heartbroken family.
“I just want my brother to come home,” his sister Savannah wrote in a message Facebook message. “He’s a son, a big brother and a little brother, a cousin, an uncle, a cousin, a friend, a homie, a classmate, a colleague, a neighbor.”
She added that there is “an army that wants him to come home,” but admitted that the extensive search for the teen has been halted after they failed to find him in the days since his disappearance.
Sigmund Ropich, 19, has been identified as the man who fell overboard of the world’s largest cruise ship on Tuesday
The massive 230,000-ton cruise ship, which can carry 7,000 passengers and 2,3000 crew members, was two days into its seven-day voyage after leaving Port Canaveral, Florida, on Sunday.
His sister Savannah shared a heartbreaking update on her brother’s disappearance, calling on people to help with the search, saying, ‘I just want my brother home’
The 230,000-ton cruise ship was two days into its seven-day voyage around the western Caribbean after leaving Port Canaveral, Florida, on Sunday when tragedy struck.
Videos shared on TikTok captured the moment those on board were notified of the passenger who had gone overboard, as the captain made a chilling announcement to those on board as rescue teams “searched for three and a half hours.”
Ropich, affectionately referred to as “boiboi” by his loved ones, is a “cool, calm and collected” person, Savannah said, adding in separate Facebook posts that she “isn’t giving up” on finding him.
However, despite repeated pleas for officials to continue the search, she said crews are preparing to end the hunt after searching the ocean for three days without success.
“Cuban officials have told us they have finished searching the ocean,” she said Insider.
“They only continue on the coast and on land. I have a strong feeling that they are going to end this search.’
Savannah said she and her family have been kept in the dark about the search, adding that when they open the search in the ocean she is “very hopeful” that Sigmung can be found.
“We need them to open it again,” she added.
Ropich (center), affectionately called “boiboi” by his loved ones, was described as a “cool, calm and composed” person
The 19-year-old’s distraught sister said she is ‘not giving up hope’ that he will return hope, despite rescue crews telling her ‘they are done searching the ocean’
The Wonder of the Seas was off the coast of Cuba when the person went overboard and returned on route to assist the crew in their search.
The crews reportedly enlisted the help of small craft, floodlights and teams of watchmen when the 19-year-old fell overboard, and the huge cruise ship turned back along its path in hopes of finding him.
Distraught passengers shared the alarming moment when Ropich fell overboard, as a staff member said in a video: “We have reports of a man overboard. We have slowed down the ship, we have turned around and we are sailing back to the position we had then.
“We will start the search and rescue operations with our lifeboats, our crew will set out to search for everything.”
One passenger on board shared to TikToks about the incident. In a video, she says, “Tonight we have a missing person, right now someone is in the water.
“We have seen rescue teams searching for the person. As soon as we find out, I’ll let you know.”
The woman then pans her camera to show a rescue team in the water. She says, “This is the search boat, but I’m not sure anyone will survive this current.”
In the video, the small lifeboat can be seen bobbing around in the dark waters looking for the person.
In an update, she says: “He had jumped ship, they searched for three and a half hours and they didn’t find his body.
‘They had to stop the search because there was a sick person on board, his body will certainly never be found again. It’s so sad.
“I pray for his soul and his family, God bless you all.”
The Wonder of the Seas had already deviated from its original route because of Hurricane Idalia, which hit Florida with a record-breaking storm surge this week, passengers said.
This is the sixth person in the past three months to go overboard on a cruise ship, according to Business Insider.
In May, another young student, Cameron Robbins, also fell overboard in similar circumstances to Ropich.
Robbins, 18, was a star high school baseball player and graduate of University High in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and was partying with friends when he jumped off the sunset cruise ship Blackbeard’s Revenge while celebrating his high school graduation near Athol Island, in the Bahamas . .
The search for the 18-year-old was called off after two days.
Other previous incidents occurred on the cruise ships Carnival Magic, Carnival Elation, Spectrum of the Seas, Emerald Princess and Mariner of the Seas. Only one of the passengers was successfully rescued.
On average, 19 people go overboard each year on cruise ships, with about four people being successfully rescued, according to a 2020 report commissioned by the industry trade group Cruise Lines International Association.
Ropich is the sixth person to go overboard on a cruise ship in the past three months
In May, another student Cameron Robbins, 18, (left), also fell overboard while partying on a cruise ship with friends near a Caribbean island
The megaship is 350 meters long and has 18 decks and features amenities such as a card room, jogging track, laser tag, miniature golf, an outdoor movie screen, rock climbing walls, a solarium, karaoke and a ‘vitality spa’.
Following the incident in which Ropich fell overboard, a Royal Caribbean spokesperson said: “On August 29, a guest sailing on Wonder of the Seas went overboard.
The ship’s crew immediately launched a search and rescue operation and are working closely with local authorities.”
The Wonder of the Seas is the largest cruise ship in the world, is 380 meters long and has 18 decks. At full capacity, the ship can accommodate nearly 7,000 passengers and 2,300 crew members.
It features the largest water park at sea, which Royal Caribbean proclaims as a “lost island adventure where vacationers can test their limits and reach new heights.”
She was built in Saint-Nazaire, France, and it took three years for the 362-meter ship to be ready for passengers.
A traditional flag-changing ceremony was held in Marseille to mark the completion of construction, along with Royal Caribbean’s shipyard partner, Chantiers de l’Atlantique.
Wonder weighs 236,857 tons, has 18 decks, 24 guest elevators, 2,867 staterooms and can accommodate up to 6,988 guests, cared for by 2,300 international crew members.
She features a 25-meter long, 10-deck high zipline and Ultimate Abyss – the tallest slide at sea with a height of 10 stories.
The cruiser also has a Central Park area featuring “the first living park at sea, with over 20,000 plants” and multiple “neighborhoods.”
One of these is the ‘Suite Neighborhood’, which offers guests an ‘elevated suite sundeck complete with a plunge pool, wet bar and lounge chairs’.
There’s also a cantilevered pool bar called The Vue, and Wonder Playscape – an open-air children’s interactive play area with ‘awesome views’.
Other amenities include a card room, jogging track, laser tag, miniature golf, outdoor movie screen, climbing walls, solarium, karaoke and a vitality spa.