SINJim

I was a passenger and would like to share my firsthand, albeit sad, account of the incident. On Thursday night, the captain informed us that we would meet a pilot the next morning at 5:30 am and that we would shortly be in Nagasaki. It was already light outside around 5:25 am so I took a shower and was getting dressed at 5:30 am when I noticed that the ship was not moving. At that moment, the captain suddenly announced, “man overboard, starboard.” I grabbed the binoculars and went on my balcony which was on deck 9, starboard. I saw that we were stopped and there was the pilot boat off the stern. On deck 7 below there was lots of panicked discussion as three men were lowering a lifeboat. I saw a Diamond Princess buoy floating in the sea nearby. The lifeboat hit the water and zoomed for the pilot boat. That’s when I spotted a man in the water who had a neck preserver on. He was pulled quickly into the lifeboat and then the lifeboat sped back to the ship. As the lifeboat neared I feared the worst. The man seemed Japanese and in his late 50s (later reports said he was 69). He was in work clothes (ie overalls) and wore white gloves. The alarming part is that he wasn’t moving and he had a lot of white foam coming from his mouth. The lifeboat was raised and he was taken off at deck 7. The captain updated everyone that medical personnel were working on the pilot. He added that unfortunately, we don’t know when we can continue into Nagasaki as we don’t have a pilot. Shortly thereafter, the captain announced that we were cleared to proceed without a pilot. This probably had to do with the need to get the pilot to a hospital. As we docked there were police and medics waiting with a stretcher. Some crew exited the ship and spoke to the waiting party with what seemed like bad news. The medics packed up and departed. A half-hour later, a van backed up to the ship and a body bag was loaded. The time was just 8:15 am. As we were preparing to set sail, the captain came on to say that the pilot fell and "did not survive." No other information about the incident was shared.I do not know if the pilot had a heart attack that led to the fall into the water or perhaps vice versa. The motionless body and the mouth foaming could also be the sign of a broken neck. Perhaps he lost his balance and fell into the water backward, snapping his neck. Naturally, I did not take any pictures. While in the moment I did not notice other people taking pictures either, there weren't many people out at 5:30 am and they probably had the good manners to not document this.