Crew Member Rescued After Going Overboard in Crete Cruise Port
There was commotion in Souda-Chania, Crete (Greece), as a crew member found herself in a potentially life or death situation.
On the afternoon of June 3, 2025, while passengers were busy exploring the Mediterranean cruise port, a crew member went overboard in the Port of Souda under mysterious circumstances. But thankfully, she was quickly saved and is expected to be okay.
She has her fellow crew members to thank, as her colleagues acted quickly to follow the appropriate emergency protocols – including keeping the 30-year-old woman in sight, throwing her a life jacket, and contacting the local Coast Guard.
Meanwhile, the Hellenic Coast Guard urgently responded with multiple patrol units and a rescue boat – where they were able to locate the crew member and ensure she received a medical evaluation.
“The Chania Port Authority was informed of the fall of a woman into the sea, in the port of Souda. Immediately, LS-EL.AKT patrol vehicles went to the scene, while with the assistance of a launch and a cruise ship (C/Z), flagged in the Bahamas, from which a life jacket was thrown, the woman was retrieved conscious,” the Chania Port Authority said in a translated statement.
“She is a 30-year-old foreigner (Tunisian citizen) sailor (specialty of assistant), a crew member of the above C/Z. The 30-year-old, after examination by the C/Z’s doctor, was diagnosed as being in good health,” the statement continued.
In fact, it likely improved her odds that the fall took place in the cruise port – as it’s harder to rescue people while at sea because it takes time for the cruise ship to turn around and stop, by which point the currents could have carried the person to a new location.
The specific vessel the crew member fell from has not been confirmed, but according to cruise tracking data, the only cruise ship in port during the incident was Costa Cruises’ Costa Deliziosa.
The cruise ship is a more medium-sized vessel with a capacity for 934 crew members and 2,826 passengers.
She is currently operating 7 and 14-night sailings simultaneously to cruise ports throughout Greece, Italy, and Croatia.
How Common is Falling Overboard?
Thankfully, man-overboard situations are not common – so the typical employee or cruise guests likely has nothing to worry about in this regard.
Cruise ships are designed with safety features in place – such as high railings – to make it difficult to go overboard unless someone was behaving recklessly or sadly attempting to jump.
At this time, it’s not clear why the unidentified crew member went overboard in Crete, but an investigation is already underway to determine what may have led to the fall.
According to data from Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), only 212 people went overboard between 2009 to 2019 – which is a small number considering millions of crew members and guests take to the high seas each year.
But unfortunately, only 48 of those people, which translates to just over 28%, were rescued successfully.
Between strong currents, the time it takes for a cruise ship to turn around and return to the location of the splash, weather conditions, and injuries from the fall, these events are unfortunately often fatal.
Read Also: What Happens If You Jump Off a Cruise Ship?
And contrary to one incorrect myth, spending more time on a cruise ship – as crew members do – does not significantly increase their likelihood of finding themselves in the sea.
The most recent man-overboard incident involving a crew member was just under a year ago in August of 2024, in which a Carnival Dream employee fell overboard about 82 nautical miles northeast of Rio Lagartos, Mexico, and was sadly never found.
Before that, a crew member went overboard from AIDA Cruises’ AIDAperla on October 22, 2023, while sailing in the unforgiving English Channel.
Given the frigid water temperatures, they were also presumed lost at sea after a host of search and rescue teams were not able to locate the worker.
Crew Member Rescued After Going Overboard in Crete Cruise Port