Coast Guard searching for missing Australian cruise ship passenger 500 miles from Hawaiʻi

U.S. Coast Guard crews are searching a location about 500-miles south of Kailua-Kona on the Big Island for a cruise ship passenger from Australia who went overboard.

A Coast Guard Air Station Barbers Point C-130 Hercules aircrew launched at 7 a.m. on Wednesday and arrived on scene at about 9 a.m. to begin the search, according to a Coast Guard news release.

Joint Rescue Coordination Center Honolulu received a report from the Royal Caribbean cruise ship Quantum of the Seas of a man overboard at 11:03 p.m. on Tuesday. The crew of the cruise ship remained on scene to search for approximately two hours, deploying six life rings.

After six hours on scene, the Coast Guard crew returned to Air Station Barbers Point for fuel replenishment. The search will resume at first light Thursday morning.

The cruise ship has been at sea for 15 days and is expected to dock on Friday in Honolulu.