An incident on St. John River near the Port of Jacksonville, Florida has led to the closure of the cruise port this morning. A cruise ship’s departure has also been delayed.
Carnival Cruise Line’s Brand Ambassador John Heald posted a message on social media, notifying guests that Carnival Elation will be delayed in departing from the port. The ship is returning from a 5-night cruise to The Bahamas. The United States Coast Guard is conducting a search of the area in a rescue operation.
Local news reports are stating that a boat with eight people on board capsized by the Dames Point Bridge. Some of the passengers on the small boat were children. Four have been rescued while three are still missing and one has died.
The age of the individual that has passed away has not been disclosed, but Jacksonville Fire Rescue stated that when four individuals were first reported missing, two of them were adults and two were children.
The incident occurred where Trout River and St. John’s River intersect, and according to preliminary reports the group was taking pictures of the sunset, and the accident happened around 8 p.m.
What caused the small boat to flip over is still unknown.
Heald stated that the cruise line is monitoring the situation and is asking guests not to proceed to the terminal until there is more information. Guests booked on Carnival Elation are being asked to sign up for Carnival’s text alert service by texting code CCL1 to CRUISE (which is 278473).
“Carnival Elation is still awaiting clearance to proceed to the cruise terminal. We will continue to monitor the situation and provide another update by 10:30 AM (ET). Please do not proceed to the cruise terminal until you have received our final update with revised embarkation plans. Thanks for your patience and understanding,” a recent text alert from Carnival stated.
Some guests reported a problem with the text number, but Heald stated that the cruise line was working on a fix for the issue.
Carnival Elation was scheduled to depart Jacksonville today on a 5-day cruise to Nassau and Half Moon Cay in The Bahamas.
This is the only ship impacted by this incident. In November, Norwegian Cruise Line will also be offering cruises from Jacksonville as well.
As more details are made available this article will be updated.
