Personal Injury Law

Search on for passenger missing from Princess cruise ship

By Lipcon, Margulies & Alsina, P.A.

(6:45 AM) -- A massive search-and-rescue operation is under way off the west coast of Canada today for a passenger who has gone missing from a Princess cruise ship.

The 67-year-old woman, who hasn't been identified, was noticed missing Wednesday after the 2,670-passenger Sapphire Princess pulled into Vancouver at the end of a four-night cruise to Alaska.

The Princess vessel was at sea from late Monday, when it left the small port of Ketchikan, Alaska, until early Wednesday traveling down the scenic Inside Passage to Vancouver. Rescuers are searching the entire route -- an area that stretches for more than 500 miles.

The U.S. Coast Guard says the woman wasn't found during a search of the ship Wednesday, and her personal belongings were in her cabin.

The U.S. Coast Guard has deployed several aircraft and a rescue boat to search the U.S. waters from Ketchikan south to the Canadian border -- an 86-mile stretch. Canadian rescue agencies are searching the much larger, 517-mile-long area of water between the Canadian border and Vancouver.

UPDATE, 9:39 AM ET: The U.S. Coast Guard says the passenger missing from the Sapphire Princess is a U.S. citizen. The agency says her name is being withheld pending notification of next of kin.

UPDATE, 9:58 AM ET: Princess Cruises has issued a short statement on the missing passenger: "Yesterday morning when Sapphire Princess disembarked passengers at the conclusion of its Alaska cruise, records showed one passenger did not depart the ship," the statement reads. "Staff members subsequently went to the cabin of the passenger, a 67-year-old female U.S. citizen, and discovered her belongings, but we regret to say she is missing. We notified authorities and are offering our full cooperation in order to determine where she is or what may have happened to her."

The statement notes the ship is now heading south to begin sailings along the Mexican Riviera. This week's cruise to Alaska was its last of the season.

UPDATE, 5:45 PM ET: In an afternoon statement, Princess says the passenger remains missing, but the line cannot comment more. "We continue to work closely with various investigating authorities, and we?ve been advised not to discuss any details of the incident, including potential evidence, or to speculate on the cause of the incident," the statement reads. "In the meantime, we are providing support to her family during this difficult time."

The U.S. Coast Guard, meanwhile, says it has narrowed its search for the missing woman to an area just outside of Ketchikan after receiving new information from Princess about the time and place where it is believed she went overboard. The Coast Guard also has named the missing passenger.

"Carney Edelgard, a Sutter Creek, Calif., resident is reported to have fallen overboard from the cruise ship Sapphire Princess at around 6 p.m. Monday," the Coast Guard says in a statement.

Full post as published by Cruise Ship Law on September 24, 2009 (boomark / email).