FL FL - Daniel DiPiero, 21, missing from cruise ship, 15 May 2006

[Jeana (DP)]

MIAMI, Florida (CNN) -- The U.S. Coast Guard began searching Tuesday for a 21-year-old man believed to have fallen from a cruise ship sailing from Port Canaveral, Florida, to the Bahamas, a Coast Guard spokesman said.

Daniel Dipiero of Augusta, Ohio, was reported missing Monday morning from the Royal Caribbean International's Mariner of the Seas cruise liner, but ship officials did not alert the Coast Guard until eight hours later, the Coast Guard said.

"They were notified at 11 yesterday morning; they sent an e-mail to us that we received at 7 o'clock last night," Coast Guard Petty Officer Ryan Doss said.

The company did not immediately respond to calls asking about the delay in notification. In a written statement, it said "a variety of onboard announcements and searches were carried out Monday."

Lightning and stormy weather forced the Coast Guard to delay the search until 9 a.m. Tuesday when a C-130 plane began scouring the seas from Grand Bahama to Stirrup Cay.

Dipiero was traveling in a party of seven aboard the ship, Doss said.

more at:

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/05/16/man.overboard/index.html

 

[dark_shadows]

Hi Jeana,

Thank-you for the link.
My heart goes out to Daniel's family and friends.
Whatever happen with this investigation?

 

[dark_shadows]

Link;

WASHINGTON: Only 5 of the 28 people who disappeared from cruise ships in the past three years were found, according to data disclosed to Congress by the world's largest cruise lines.

 

[AlwaysShocked]

Do the cameras aboard these ships NEVER record these people going overboard, I wonder?

The article says that cameras showed the guy for two hours in a deck chair and also showed him leaning against the railing at the bow of the ship. Would the camera not show him going overboard?

Perhaps the cruise lines ought to consider installing cameras that point outward to show the railings of the ship. At least then they would get some idea of exactly HOW these people are disappearing!

The cost of having the cameras installed could not be as much as the cost of the business they are losing at this point. perhaps if they can prove that, in fact, these are drunk people dropping off the side of the ship, or deliberate jumpers, etc. it would be worth the trouble to install such cameras.

 

[BeeBee]

I heard on my local news tonight that more was seen by the camera's but it is not being told at this time. Apparently something was seen and it should come out soon.

 

[Bobbisangel]

Everytime I hear that another passenger has accidentally fallen overboard from a cruise ship I just feel so furious. If the problem on these cruise ships is people falling overboard doesn't that tell the idiots that they need to do something with their railings??? Maybe they should replace all of the railings on every darn cruise ship and make them fall over proof. Make them 6 ft tall. Whatever it takes so no one can fall overboard. I still can't see how a person falls overboard....over the railing. I don't remember the rails being that low.

It would be really interesting to see if there are anymore accidents if the rails are higher. Personally, I have a big question mark about all of these people falling overboard...especially the oriental couple whose kids had sent them on a cruise. They were elderly and probably short. There have been lots of suspicious ACCIDENTS on these cruise ships. I just can't figure out why they don't do something with the railings.

 

[tompettyfan]

I don't care how many procedures they go through, or how many false alarms could come of it, there is no excuse for that amount of time to pass before the coast guard is alerted. That gives me absolutely no faith in the cruise lines in and of itself. This is really heartbreaking. Just last week, my step-daughter received a phone call from a classmate asking if she wanted to sign a petition to get the ball rolling on planning a graduation cruise for next year. I was so relieved that she wasn't interested without my having to put the skids to it. She hates boats, even small ones.

 

[tennessee]

How about making the railings wider? I would think there would be less of a chance of just flipping over them then.

I don't think I will ever cruise.



JMHO

 

[redeskimo]

I don't think all those people fall over board , I think they have some help getting over the railings . Glad to hear they have some video's hope they find the cause of this .

 

[ember]

I was on this exact ship about two years ago. It ports in Baltimore. Very nice ship and the food was glorious. But, IMO, there is no way you can just fall over. I'm 5'3". I don't know how tall this guy was but the rails hit me right above chest level. I can tell you though, if you lean over the rail for a while and watch the ocean below, you can get dizzy enough to fall over, but you'd have to be standing on something...at least I would. If a person had been drinking too, well it could happen. But to just fall overboard...no.

BTW, these cruises are pretty lawless. My husband & I did this exact cruise with same ports of call. On the ship...it's a free for all. People going wild, getting all tore up every night and the alcohol just flows. You are laying on your lawn chair by the pool in the morning, early morning and a cool tropical drink is thrust to you...and so easy to accept...they just put it on your sea pass. I was drunk by noon the first day...then we said whoa and slowed down a little . But for some all this "fun" can be a recipe for disaster.

 

[Paladin]

I suspect that there was alot of alcohol involved. I don't think changing the railings will do much though. I've been on 5 cruises, and I try not to walk out on the deck at night, for fear that some crazy person wants to push me over, and if I do, I make sure I am with someone and walk near the middle of the deck and not next to the railing.

 

[Jean]

Tape Shows Man Fell Overboard From Cruise

A passenger reported missing on a cruise to the Bahamas fell overboard after a night of heavy drinking with friends, authorities said Wednesday as Coast Guard crews suspended their search for the man.

Friends of Daniel DiPiero, 21, of Canfield, Ohio, last saw him on the Mariner of the Seas around midnight Sunday, Petty Officer Dana Warr said.

About two hours later, shipboard security cameras show DiPiero falling overboard from a rail near the front of the ship, investigators said. (More at link)

http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/05/17/D8HLS2QG0.html

 

[deanws]

How about making the railings wider? I would think there would be less of a chance of just flipping over them then.

I don't think I will ever cruise.



JMHO

You can't flip over them. They are fairly high. You would have to work at it to go over the side. They are too narrow for an adult to go under the rail. I could possibly see a small child slipping under the rail. I think these people are either jumping over it intentional, or foul play is the culprit. Cruising is so much fun. Don't let this scare you away. We cruise all the time. We love it.

 

[Bobbisangel]

I suspect that there was alot of alcohol involved. I don't think changing the railings will do much though. I've been on 5 cruises, and I try not to walk out on the deck at night, for fear that some crazy person wants to push me over, and if I do, I make sure I am with someone and walk near the middle of the deck and not next to the railing.

Everytime someone goes missing on a cruise ship the management says it was an accident....so and so fell overboard. If the rails are made to be high enough so that it would be impossible for a person to accidentally fall overboard....and someone goes missing... it would take the guess work out of the situation. The only way someone could go over would be if he/she was picked up and thrown overboard and that is called murder. Then the murder could be investigated.

 

[TheShadow]

My thinking is that the guy may have been drunk and stood up on one of the lower crosspieces of the railing, like Leonardo Dicaprio...."King of the world" ...and lost his balance as drunks do. I had a drunk friend fall from a third floor landing on an outside staircase. All he did was try to sit on the rail and over he went. He lived.

 

[PommyMommy]

JUN 2 updated JUN 5, 2006
Family Talks About Son Who Fell Overboard | wfmynews2.com
... Surveillance video shows him sleeping on the deck."He woke up and was ill and he ran to throw up," SD [Daniel's mother] said. "Looking at the film his upper weight literally pulled him over the rail," RD [Daniel's father] said. ...