Earlier this week, a video clip about a tragic loss of life swept the internet almost overnight. The video in question features a young man leaping off a cruise ship in the Bahamas on a dare. The laughter of all those who witnessed it quickly devolved into panic as they struggled to get the man back up. Unfortunately, by then, he was already lost, and the video that is circulating right now is the last known image before he disappeared.
After a large-scale search that lasted two days, the Royal Bahamas Defence Force (RBDF) and US Coast Guard failed to find any trace of the teenager. This culminated in a statement from the US Coast Guard officially declaring that the search had been stopped.
The 18-year-old, Cameron Robbins, was a talented baseball star who had recently graduated from high school. He was from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He was known to be a “fierce competitor” by his coach but was also remembered for kindness to other people.
To celebrate their success, Cameron and his friends decided to celebrate with a post-graduation trip to the Bahamas. While there, the flock of fresh graduates chose to partake in a sunset cruise, a short voyage that would start at sunset and last throughout the night. Unfortunately, the ship they were on was the Blackbeard’s Revenge, a dark pirate-themed ship. By 11:30pm, Cameron had been given a dare to jump off the ship and into the water.
Cameron had no life vest on when he leapt into the water, so eagle-eyed people tossed him a lifebuoy in an attempt to save him. At first, there was a little scattered laughter here and there, but panic began to set in among the students as Cameron started swimming away from the buoy and the ship.
Witnesses stated that the ship searched for several hours for Cameron to no avail. Search parties comprising the US Coast Guard and the Royal Bahamas Defence Force scoured the area where he was last seen and where he could have been, both from ships and helicopters. However, after two days and covering over 325 square miles (841.746 square kilometres), the search was called off.
“We were informed by the RBDF this evening that they were suspending the active search efforts pending further developments and were not requesting further Coast Guard assistance after notifying the Robbins family. We offer our sincerest condolences to Cameron Robbins’ family and friends.” – US Coast Guard statement.
Though the incident occurred on Wednesday, 24th May and the search ended on Friday, 26th May, the video only reached mainstream attention this week. Many netizens speculated that Cameron had jumped into shark-infested waters, but that information has yet to be confirmed.
Sources: NBC News, Independent, Boatsetter, New York Post
