A passenger from Norwegian Cruise Lines Norwegian Pearl is feared drowned after somehow falling overboard during a 7-day Western Caribbean cruise from Miami. The passenger, 36 year-old, Jennifer Ellis-Seitz from Winter Haven, Florida was reported missing around 5:00 am Friday morning by her husband. Authorities said that based on surveilance video tapes, they believe that Ellis-Seitz probably went overboard around 8:00 pm the previous evening and they are investigating why it took so long for the woman's husband to report her missing.

When the the crew was notified that the woman was missing, they followed standard missing passenger procedures and first conducted a search of the cruise ship before notifiying the authorities. When the crew was unable to locate Ellis-Seitz after a three-hour search of the vessel, they contacted the US Coast Guard which coordinated search and rescuue operations with the Mexican Navy.

A review of the surveilance video tapes allowed the Coast Guard to pinpoint the exact location of the ship when the woman went overboard. They used this information to retrace the path of the ship and initiate a search following the drift pattern of someone who would have entered the water along the ship's path. The ship was cruising approximately 15 miles east of Cancun, Mexcio when she Ellis-Seitz was thought to have gone overboard.

An HU-25 Falcon jet crew from Coast Guard Air Station Miami, C-130 fixed-wing aircraft crews from Coast Guard Air Station Clearwater, Fla., and Mexican navy patrol boat and helicopter crews searched more than 4,200 square miles for the woman, the Coast Guard said.

Late this afternoon, the Coast Guard announced that the search for Ellis-Seitz had been called off but that the investigation into the circumstances surrounding her going overboard were still being investigated. The Norwegian Pearl arrived in Miami on Sunday morning where FBI authorities boarded the vessel and interviewed passengers before allowing the ship to depart on the next scheduled cruise.