• The Coast Guard is searching for a 28-year-old man who went missing from a Carnival cruise ship Monday.
• The passenger’s mother told Business Insider she learned about his disappearance from a relative.
• Carnival said Tuesday that surveillance footage appeared to show a man jumping off the ship.

A missing 28-year-old cruise passenger on the Carnival Glory is believed to have gone overboard on Monday and the Coast Guard is searching the waters near New Orleans to find him.

But while the passenger’s mom told Business Insider she’s hopeful he’s still alive, she’s worried that he may not have survived and believes someone on board must know what happened to her son.

Tyler Barnett of Houma, Louisiana, was first reported missing Monday morning by a family member, just a day after leaving New Orleans for a week-long cruise to Grand Cayman in the Cayman Islands, and Cozumel, Mexico, according to a statement from Carnival.

In a Tuesday evening update, a spokesperson with Carnival said the ship’s security team reviewed surveillance footage and confirmed the missing passenger appeared to jump from the ship’s Deck 4 at about 1:40 a.m. on Monday.

“He can be seen climbing on a lifeboat and jumping from there,” the spokesperson said. 

It was only on Tuesday that the ship’s security team was informed the missing passenger might have been wearing a different shirt, which allowed crew members to more accurately search onboard video, the spokesperson said. 

Carnival said it had informed the Coast Guard and the man’s family of the development. The cruise line did not release the man’s name — though the man’s mother, Elisha Reid, in an earlier interview with Business Insider confirmed her son, Barnett, was the missing passenger. 

Barnett was seen on security footage around midnight on Monday, according to the Coast Guard. The Coast Guard launched two aircraft to try to find Barnett in a 200-mile area near where the ship sailed into the Gulf of Mexico.

The cruise line said teams are helping Barnett’s family members still on board and that the U.S. Coast Guard cleared Carnival Glory to carry on with its cruise.

But Barnett’s mother, Reid, said Carnival initially told her daughter — who is currently on the ship — that there was no footage of what happened to her son.

All cruise ships are required to have 42-inch guard rails and man-overboard imaging under the 2010 Cruise Vessel Security and Safety Act. But many ships have yet to implement newer technology that automatically detects when a person goes overboard by using thermal cameras and radars that promptly alert crew members, Business Insider’s Hannah Towey previously reported.

The time between someone going overboard and the cruise ship launching a search-and-rescue mission can often be the difference between life and death. 

Carnival did not immediately respond to Insider’s question about whether the Carnival Glory employs any such tech.

“Something doesn’t add up,” Reid told Business Insider in a Tuesday morning interview. “I am going to find out. I will get answers. If there’s something, foul play, if there’s something going on amongst the staff, I’m going to bring it to light. I will not give up if it’s the last breath in me.”

Reid told Business Insider that her son’s keycard was used to enter the ship’s casino just after midnight, then to his room 12 minutes later.

Reid, who isn’t currently on board, said Barnett was on the cruise with his sister and uncle when he went missing. She didn’t find out her son was missing until a cousin messaged her, unaware that she hadn’t gotten the news yet.

“I have my moments where I break, but I’m keeping the faith,” Reid said. “What’s important to me is to know where he’s at and to have him home, whether he’s alive or not, I want his body to be home.”

Reid’s daughter, Destiny, is still on board the ship, she said. Barnett’s sister told their mom she last saw her brother around 11:40 p.m. when he told her he was going to his room.

Reid said her daughter, who is very close to Barnett, has been texting her updates periodically from the ship.

“She’s trying her best,” Reid said. “She’s not going to leave that ship without her brother. She’s demanding more footage.”

Reid told Business Insider she hopes the incident continues to be investigated.

“Our Care Team will continue to do all they can to support the family in this difficult time,” a spokesperson told Business Insider in response to Reid’s comments about the cruise line.

“I feel something is not right and something needs to be investigated further because Tyler is not the first this year,” she said.

While the chances of falling off a cruise ship are extremely low, at least nine other people have gone overboard this year, Business Insider previously reported. Only two survived the fall.

“I can’t rest. I feel like, just feel like I can’t,” Reid said.

November 14, 2023: This story has been updated to include a statement from Carnival Cruise Lines confirming video surveillance appears to show the missing passenger jumping from the ship.