The U.S. Coast Guard has suspended the search for a missing cruise ship passenger who jumped overboard in the early hours of Wednesday morning, September 7.
On Wednesday 32-year-old Rina Patel from New York jumped overboard the Carnival Ecstasy. She jumped at around 2:20 on Wednesday morning as the ship was 27 miles southwest of Freeport, Bahamas. A major search operation was launched which in the early stages also included the Carnival Ecstasy.
Sadly the search effort ended on Thursday at 7:32 PM southwest of Freeport, Bahamas. The Coast Guard crews had covered 2,800 square miles over 43 hours before suspending the search for the cruise ship passenger.
Capt. Todd Coggeshall, chief of response management for the Coast Guard’s 7th District said:
“We would like to extend our deepest condolences to the loved ones and all that have been affected by this tragedy. Suspending search efforts is always a painful decision, but despite our best efforts we have been unable to locate Rina and have made the difficult decision to suspend the search pending any further developments.”
The Fantasy class ship was sailing back towards its home port at Charleston, South Carolina when the woman jumped from deck 11. The 70,500 gross ton vessel was sailing a 6-day Bahamas itinerary at the time. Cruise Hive’s thoughts are with Rina Patel’s friends and family during this very difficult time.
