Royal Caribbean passenger sailing to Singapore goes overboard - USA TODAY

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A passenger sailing on Royal Caribbean International's Spectrum of the Seas cruise ship went overboard Monday.

The ship was on its way to Singapore at the time, according to the cruise line. "The ship and crew immediately reported the incident to local authorities and launched a search and rescue operation," a Royal Caribbean spokesperson said in an emailed statement. "The shipboard team is working with local authorities and our Care team is now offering assistance and support to the family."

The Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre Singapore was notified at around 7:50 a.m. that a guest fell overboard in the Singapore Strait, the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore said in a news release.

"MRCC Singapore is coordinating the search and immediately issued navigational safety broadcast to vessels in the Singapore Strait and vessels in port to keep a lookout for the missing person and report any sightings to MRCC Singapore," MPA said.

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The vessel was returning from a four-day round-trip cruise to Malaysia that departed on July 27, according to CruiseMapper.

Between 2009 and 2019, there were 212 overboard incidents globally involving passengers and crew, according to statistics compiled for Cruise Lines International Association by consulting firm G.P. Wild (International) Limited. Just 48 people were rescued.

Nathan Diller is a consumer travel reporter for USA TODAY based in Nashville. You can reach him at ndiller@usatoday.com.