Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Search for Overboard Carnival Fantasy Passenger Suspended

The US Coast Guard has suspended their search for the 18-year-old man who went overboard from Carnival Fantasy in the Gulf of Mexico on Sunday evening.

The Coast Guard says they suspended the search at 8:30pm Tuesday evening (May 26, 2009) after having searched nearly 5,300 square miles since they were called at 10pm Sunday evening.

Assisting in the search were:
* An HC-130 Hercules search plane from Coast Guard Air Station Clearwater, Fla.
* An HH-60 Jayhawk rescue helicopter from Coast Guard Air Station Clearwater.
* An HU-25 Falcon search plane from Coast Guard Air Station Miami
* An HU-25 Falcon search plane from Aviation Training Center Mobile, Al.
* An HC-144 Ocean Sentry search plane from Aviation Training Center Mobile.
* The Coast Guard Cutter Nantucket, a 110-foot patrol boat homeported in St. Petersburg, Fla.

Carnival Fantasy also assisted in the initial search in the area where the passenger went overboard about 150 miles southwest of Tampa, but it was released by the Coast Guard early Monday morning.

Details of the incident are in the May 25 posting.