Mom Missing After Falling Overboard On Cruise, Son Thinks She's 'Stuck'

A woman who fell overboard on a Royal Caribbean cruise ship Monday (July 31) is reported missing, while her son suspects she may still be stuck on the vessel.

Reeta Sahani, 64, and her husband, Jakesh Sahani, 70, both from India, were vacationing on the Spectrum of the Seas voyage from Malaysia to Singapore at the time of her disappearance, the Strait Times reports. Jakesh said he woke up in the middle of the night and noticed that Reeta was missing.

The ship's overboard detection system showed that a person had gone overboard and the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre was notified of a passenger falling "overboard in the Singapore Strait" at around 7:50 a.m. on Monday, according to the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore.

“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,” the MPA said in a statement shared on Monday.

Apoorv Sahani, 39, who wasn't aboard the ship at the time of his mother's disappearance, disputed reports that she jumped overboard, noting that she cannot swim and said he believes she's "stuck" somewhere on the ship.

“We’ve asked to see the CCTV (closed-circuit television) footage, but so far we’ve not received anything yet for us to confirm that it was her. All we know is that the ship’s crew thinks she jumped,” he told the Strait Times during a phone call Monday night.

“Eventually my father was told to get down from the ship because there was another cruise that was going to take place, but we think she may still be on the ship, stuck somewhere,” Sahani added. “She was on a holiday enjoying herself and then this whole thing happened. It doesn’t make sense.”