Search halted for couple who fell from Carnival cruise

The search for a couple lost at sea after falling from a Carnival cruise ship off the coast of NSW has been cancelled.

Paul Rossington, 30, and Kristen Schroder, 27, were caught on CCTV falling from the cruise liner Carnival Spirit, off the NSW mid-north coast on Wednesday.

They were discovered missing the following morning when the ship docked in Sydney, prompting an air and sea search.

The search was halted about 8am today, UK time.

Police are now trying to piece together how the couple came to fall.

Head of the Marine Area Command, Detective Superintendent Mark Hutchings, viewed CCTV footage of the couple going overboard but said it would have to be enhanced to determine what had occurred in the lead up.

"What it did was tell us two people went into the water and that’s about as far as we can take it," he said to the Sydney Morning Herald.

 "It was at night time, and whilst you can’t really tell if it was a male or a female who went over first, they went over around the same time but without further investigating it’s a bit hard to speculate about what occurred just from that."

He added forensic investigation of the couple’s cabin and interviews with family and other passengers also being carried out to determine what may have occurred.

It is understood the Carnival Spirit left on its next 10-day Pacific voyage as scheduled yesterday.

A Carnival spokesperson said it was helping with the police investigation.

"There is no evidence of foul play. However, out of respect for the families, we are not going to publicly disclose the details of what occurred," said a spokesman.

"Our thoughts are clearly with the families at this difficult time."

This is the lastest high profile incident to hit Carnival Corporation, which also owns the Princess Cruises, P&O Cruises, Cunard and Costa Cruises brands.

Last year, Costa Concordia ran aground off the coast of Tuscany killing 32 people.

Later that year, sister ship Costa Allegra suffered a fire and lost power in the Indian Ocean, leaving passengers for three days without working toilets, running water or air conditioning.

At the start of this year, passengers on board Carnival Triumph were forced to suffer similar conditions after an engine fire left the ship drifting in the Gulf of Mexico without power for five days.

Triumph has since been in a dock in Alabama for repairs. Last month it broke free of its moorings in high winds and collided with a barge. The winds also killed a nearby security guard when his shack was knocked into the water.

Later in April, Triumph was evacuated following a series of explosions at the port.

Less serious incidents in March saw the cruise line fly 4,363 passengers home after cancelling a cruise on Carnival Dream due to technical problems, while Carnival Legend had to cancel a stop in the Cayman Islands after suffering a "minor technical issue" with propulsion.

Following the technical problems, Carnival has begun to implement a raft of measures to improve safety and dependability on board its ships.

by Bev Fearis and Diane Evans

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