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By Giulia Carbonaro
Senior Reporter
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A teenager has been found dead by Italian authorities after falling overboard from a Costa cruise ship.
The 18-year-old boy went overboard after the cruise ship, Costa Toscana, left the port of Civitavecchia for Genoa. At the time the young man fell into the water on April 13 the cruise ship was an estimated seven miles off the coast of Civitavecchia, a little more than an hour's drive from Rome.
According to Italian authorities the teenager was a German citizen, but his name has not been shared with the media.
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Several passengers on the Costa Toscana who saw the incident took to social media to share their experiences.
"Terrible - man overboard in the open sea meters from where we were having dinner on the costa Toscana," tweeted one of the cruise ship passengers.
"I was here too, someone in my family have seen him falling by the window. It's horrible," wrote another.
Local media reported that the alarm went off as soon as the boy was spotted in the water, with the Italian Coast Guard and firefighters were called to the scene.
According to Vesselfinder, a website that tracks real-time ship positions and marine traffic worldwide, the cruise ship did a U-turn at about 7:30 p.m. after the alarm went off as if looking for a missing passenger. But when the teenager was located by authorities, he was declared dead on arrival. Conditions at sea reportedly made rescue operations difficult.
Italian newspapers have suggested that the teenager might have suffered from depression and decided to intentionally end his life, though suicides are rare on cruise ships. But a big question mark hangs over the boy's death, and an investigation has been opened into the incident.
Costa Toscana, the cruise ship the teenager was traveling on, is a new vessel inaugurated in March 2022. It's fueled by liquified natural gas and is considered a moving "smart city."
In a written statement to Newsweek, Costa Crociere wrote: "In respect of privacy any other detailed information can only be given by the competent authorities. Costa Toscana is currently continuing her journey. We feel sincerely sad and deeply touched by this dramatic event."
American cruise expert Dr. Ross Klein, who keeps a database regarding guests and crew members who have gone overboard either to an accident, alcohol intoxication, foul play, or suicide, estimated that there have been at least 375 documented accidents involving people falling overboard between 1995 and December 2022.
Last year, two cruise passengers died within the same week in December after going overboard. The first death was that of a woman who fell overboard from a cruise ship off the South Australian coast on December 13, while the second death was that of a 36-year-old woman who was traveling on the cruise ship MSC Meraviglia off the coast of Port Canaveral, Florida, two days later.
Update, 4/18/2023 8:25 a.m. ET: This article has been updated to include a statement from Costa Crociere.
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