Personal Injury Law

Search Called Off For Missing Carnival Employee

By Lipcon, Margulies & Alsina, P.A.

Passengers, Crew Say Man Fell, Did Not Jump

MIAMI -- The coast guard has called off the search for a man who fell off a Central Florida-based cruise ship on Thursday.

Rescuers spent two days looking for the man after he went overboard about 20 miles off Vero Beach.

Onboard the Shrike, three at a time, crewmembers stood four-hour watches. They did nothing but look -- day and night -- for the 26-year-old man who fell off the Carnival cruise ship Sensation.

Onboard the Sensation, early Thursday morning, passengers said the victim was up high, either on the railing or some other platform, when he slipped and fell overboard.

He plunged 80 feet -- eight stories -- into the water.

Crewmembers immediately threw in life jackets and life rings, but no one ever saw the man again.

Fishermen said the current in the Gulfstream is rough.

The Coast Guard said the man might have been pulled into the turbulence of the ship's propellers or he might have grabbed one of the flotation devices.

But in the darkness, it was impossible to find any sign of him.

The Coast Guard decided that further searching would be futile.

The cruise line has not released the man's name.

The Sensation is back out on another cruise.

Full post as published by Cruise Ship Law on January 01, 2009 (boomark / email).