Coast Guard suspends search for missing cruise ship crew member out of Galveston

GALVESTON, Texas (KTRK) -- The Coast Guard has suspended their search in the Gulf of Mexico for a missing cruise ship crew member who didn't report for work as scheduled.

A 39-year-old Filipino crew member aboard the Royal Caribbean cruise ship Liberty of the Seas was last seen on the ship's closed-circuit television system at about 1:30 a.m. Monday. He was reported missing at 4:30 a.m. after a complete search of the ship was conducted, according to a statement from Royal Caribbean. The missing man serves as a bartender on board the ship.

The Coast Guard search had involved multiple patrol boats and airplane crews from Galveston and Corpus Christi, as well as Mobile, Alabama, and Gulfport, Mississippi. It focused on an area about 170 miles southeast of Galveston and covered 5,000 square-nautical miles.

The statement from the cruise ship line read in part, "Our Care Team is providing support to our crew member's family, as well as his friends and colleagues onboard, and our thoughts and prayers are with them."

Liberty of the Seas is currently on a seven-night itinerary that departed Galveston on Sunday with ports of calls to Cozumel, Mexico; George Town, Grand Cayman and Falmouth, Jamaica.

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