Search suspended for man who jumped off Carnival cruise ship
GALVESTON, Texas (KTRK) -- The U.S. Coast Guard has suspended the search for a man that went overboard the Carnival Dream cruise ship.
According to the Coast Guard, the search covered more than 586 square miles before opting to halt operations Saturday evening.
According to the ship's itinerary, the cruise ship left Galveston Thursday for a 4-day trip to Cozumel.
The 26-year-old man, who has not been named, reportedly went overboard around 8:45 p.m. Thursday.
The Coast Guard said this in a statement Saturday evening:
"With our heartfelt condolences to the family and friends of this young man, we have made the difficult decision to suspend our search," said Lt. Cmdr. Caren Damon, search and rescue mission coordinator at Sector Houston-Galveston. "We would like to thank the three good Samaritan vessels, along with our crews, who faced extreme weather conditions during the search due to Tropical Storm Olga. At the height of the storm, search crews endured winds up to 35 mph, 12-foot seas and incredibly low visibility."
The company released the following statement about the incident:
Thursday evening, a guest went overboard from Carnival Dream while the ship was sailing from Galveston. Based on camera footage, it appears the guest jumped from his stateroom balcony.
The ship's command promptly began search and rescue procedures, returned to the area near where the incident occurred and notified the US Coast Guard which is sending a helicopter to assist in the search. The onboard CareTeam is assisting the guest's family.
Carnival Dream departed Galveston earlier today on a four-day cruise.
Another cruise ship passenger, Darrell Byer, shot video of the Coast Guard looking for the 26-year-old man by helicopter and by boat.
"We got a pretty sad situation out here right now, man. A man overboard. We turned the ship around, and we're in a search pattern right now. I didn't know the passenger. Good idea, who it was, they were calling the name out for quite a while, several times," Byer said.
