Haunting tourist vid captures moment cruise passenger plunges overboard to his death in front of horrified onlookers

THIS is the haunting moment a cruise ship passenger falls to his death - with the tragedy captured on camera by an unwitting tourist.

The split-second freeze frame shows the person falling from the side of the 14-deck Norwegian Spirit in front of a family with a young boy.

Completely oblivious tourist Kenji Lao Wang captured the footage as he filmed himself and his family on the cruise ship on August 8.

The chilling video showed the couple standing with their child as they excitedly talked to each other by the railing on the deck.

And then in the top left of the frame, the shape of the man suddenly comes into view as he plunges towards the ocean.

Screams can be heard and a horrifying splash, with the members of the ship's crew rushing to help.

The cruise liner stopped and rescue boats were deployed to find the missing man.

Footage showed them scouring the sea - but sadly the tragic passenger was found dead.

Local media reported the passenger was a Taiwanese man who lost his footing while standing on the ship's top deck at around 11am.

One eyewitness said: “We were sightseeing on the deck at that time, just looking at the sea, and then we heard a huge noise.

“Then everyone looked towards us and someone realised that a passenger had fallen into the sea.”

Taiwanese actress Xu Wei'an was also on board and told of her horror - even seeing police tape around the man's cabin.

She said: "It took a long time to finally find the person.

"Everyone was on the boat watching the lifeboats rescue people."

The cruise liner departed from Keelung Port in Taiwan on Sunday for a six-day trip to Nagasaki in Japan and South Korea’s Jeju Island.

It was returning to Taiwan when the passenger fell overboard.

The cruise was stopped for nearly 40 minutes while staff activated safety protocols and launched search boats.

The man’s dead body was found in the water shortly afterwards.

The victim was a 30-year-old man surnamed Li who lived in Taoyuan, Taiwan.

He boarded the ship with his brother on August 4.

His body was reportedly stored in a freezer until the ship docked at Keelung Port.

Cops boarded the vessel and are now probing the tragic man's death.

The investigation is ongoing.