Man falls overboard from cruise ship at sea offshore of Big Island

A 59-year-old man fell overboard while on a cruise ship at sea early the morning of Aug. 11 and Big Island police are investigating.

The missing man, identified as Kenneth Schwalbe of California, is described as 5-foot-5, 140 pounds with brown hair.

Police received a report at 8:40 a.m. Friday morning that Schwalbe was last seen at 8:30 p.m. Aug. 10. A search of the vessel yielded negative results, prompting the ship’s security personnel to notify Big Island authorities.

The U.S. Coast Guard was notified and a maritime search was initiated. The ship was slated to dock in Hilo. Detectives from the Hawai‘i Police Department Area I Criminal Investigation Section responded to the scene at the Hilo port.

Officers reviewed video surveillance footage taken at 4:18 a.m. Aug. 11 by a camera on the exterior of the ninth deck of the ship. The footage showed a person thought to be Schwalbe falling from the ship.

Based on the time of the video footage combined with the ship’s coordinates, it was determined by the ship’s captain that the vessel was approximately 8 miles offshore of Hilo when the incident occurred.

Detectives from the Area I Criminal Investigation Section are continuing this investigation. Anyone with information about this incident is asked to contact the Police Department’s non-emergency line at 808-935-3311.

No photo of the missing man is available at this time.