A woman in her 20s is feared dead after falling into the Pacific from the balcony of a Carnival cruise ship during a sailing from Long Beach to Mexico.
Officials said the unidentified woman was announced missing from the Carnival Miracle cruise ship at around 3.30am on Saturday by the crew.
The woman reportedly fell off from the fifth-floor balcony of her stateroom and into waters about 35 miles off the coast of Ensenada, Mexico.
The Mexican Navy and the Coast Guard assisted in the search on Saturday morning and overnight, but around 10.30am on Sunday, the Southern California USCG announced crews were standing down after 31+ hours of search.
The Miracle left Long Beach on Thursday, December 9, setting sail for port in Ensenada. It was scheduled to return on Saturday, December 11, as part of a three-day voyage, CBS reported.
A paramedic onboard said there is suspicions of foul play, and a picture of the deck the woman fell from showed broken pieces of the balcony.
Officials said the unidentified woman, who was in her 20s, was announced missing from the Carnival Miracle cruise ship at around 3.30am on Saturday by the crew
A paramedic onboard said there’s suspicions of foul play, and a picture of the deck the woman fell from showed broken pieces of the balcony
Crews searched the waters and alerted passengers somebody had fallen overboard as soon as they were aware the woman was missing early Saturday morning.
The ship, which returned to Long Beach on Sunday, was also searched on Saturday.
The Carnival Miracle cruise ship boasts 12 decks and it has capacity for 2,100 people, but only about 1,100 appeared to be onboard, Daniel Miranda, a passenger onboard during the incident, said.
Miranda, who works as a firefighter in Northern California, spoke to the media while the cruise was still on deck in Ensenada.
The Mexican Navy and the Coast Guard assisted in the search on Saturday morning and overnight, but around 10.30am on Sunday, the Southern California USCG announced crews were standing down after 31+ hours of search
The Miracle left Long Beach on Thursday, December 9, setting sail for port in Ensenada. It was scheduled to return on Saturday, December 11, as part of a three-day voyage. The ship, which returned to Long Beach on Sunday, was also searched on Saturday
‘About 3am, we were awakened by a general announcement across the ship with a warning going, ”Man overboard! Man overboard! Man overboard!”’ Miranda told CBS News.
‘So the ship has been given limited information. They told us we were stuck looking for the lady, and then they called us to clear us up. The crews been very tight-lipped and of course, they’ve had different areas of the ship that have cordoned off for their search when they were searching,’ he added.
He also told CBS there was suspicion of foul-play.
‘Someone has lost their life, whether it was done by accident or by foul play I don’t know – there’s some high suspicion of foul play,’ he told ABC 7.
‘About 3am, we were awakened by a general announcement across the ship with a warning going, ”Man overboard! Man overboard! Man overboard!”’ Daniel Miranda said
The Mexican Navy and the Coast Guard assisted in the search on Saturday morning and overnight. The woman reportedly fell off from the fifth-floor balcony of her stateroom and into waters about 35 miles off the coast near Ensenada, Mexico
‘A lot of people are concerned because that’s somebody’s life, and that’s a high likelihood that this person will not be found alive,’ he added.
The FBI was waiting to assist in the investigation once the ship arrived to Long Beach.
‘They immediately did their best efforts to get crews out on little boats and rescue, to start a search,’ Miranda said about the cruise line.
USCG used a Fast Response Cutter, a 154-foot patrol boat, and a MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew, but officers are transiting back to the US now.
‘They had crew literally around the deck to look all the way around the ship to be able to see if somebody was out in the water. They had lights out in the water trying to flash out there, but again it’s pretty dark,’ he added.
On Saturday, Carnival Cruise Line issued a statement about the incident.
‘We advised Carnival Miracle guests this morning of an overboard incident involving one of our guests from the balcony of her stateroom…Our thoughts are with the guest and her family, and our care team is providing support,’ the statement read.