The Australian tourist who is thought to have gone overboard on a cruise ship sailing from Brisbane to Hawaii has not yet been located by the US Coast Guard.
The Quantum of the Seas cruise liner reported a guy overboard late Tuesday night, around 500 miles (805 kilometers) south of Kailua Kona, Big Island, the coast guard said in a statement.
The cruise ship stayed on the scene for around two hours and deployed six life rings in an effort to save the passenger, but it then continued on its way after no sign of him was discovered, according to the coast guard.
A US Coast Guard Hercules helicopter conducted an aerial search of the area for six hours on Wednesday and it will resume the search at first light on Thursday, the coast guard said.
Royal Caribbean issued a statement confirming a passenger was missing.
“While on its trans-pacific sailing, a guest onboard Quantum of the Seas went overboard,” the company said in a statement, according to CNN affiliate Nine News.
“The ship’s crew immediately launched a search and rescue operation and is working closely with local authorities,” it added.
A passenger on board the vessel, Georgina Thompson, told Nine News she and her husband were in bed when they heard the call “Oscar, oscar, oscar” – the cruise ship line’s code for “man overboard.”
“There were lights, you know, the big lights shining on the ocean,” she said.
Quantum of the Seas is a 16-day voyage which departed from Brisbane, Australia on April 12 and is scheduled to reached Honolulu, Hawaii on April 28.
The vessel made its maiden voyage in 2014 from Southampton to New York, and was at the time branded as the “world’s smartest cruise ship” with robot waiters and features skydiving on deck.
It is 16 stories high and has room for 4,500 passengers and a 1,500-strong crew, according to the cruise company’s website.