Coast Guard Suspends Search For Woman Who Jumped Off Carnival Cruise Ship

A woman is missing after she fell off a cruise ship in the Gulf of Mexico about 150 miles away from the nearest coast. Coast Guard officials say she fell overboard Wednesday afternoon, and eventually suspended their search Thursday evening.

The Carnival Valor cruise ship most recently departed Cozumel, Mexico on Tuesday, and was headed for New Orleans when an altercation between the 32-year-old woman and cruise security apparently occurred. Passengers in videos shared online claimed that she was causing a disturbance on the ship’s tenth deck and that she jumped when she was being detained by security.

Some people said that the woman may have fallen off the ship in handcuffs and hit her head on the side of the ship while falling, but a spokesperson for Carnival Cruise Lines disputed these assertions and said the passenger jumped off the balcony in her room and was not handcuffed.

In other videos, we see a huge expanse of ocean with no woman in sight. Cruise staff threw a flare at her position and attempted to toss life preservers, but she disappeared before they could circle back.

The Carnival Valor docked in New Orleans the morning of February 17. The Coast Guard searched most of the day but released a statement that evening that they had suspended the search around 5 p.m.

Chief Warrant Officer Tricia Eldredge said, “The decision to suspend a search-and-rescue is never one we come to lightly. We offer our deepest sympathies to the family during this difficult time.”