Ala. Woman Reportedly Goes Overboard on Cruise Ship
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
MOBILE, Ala. The Coast Guard sent out ships and aircraft to search the Gulf of Mexico for an Alabama woman who reportedly went overboard from a cruise ship early Tuesday.
Michelle Vilborg, 50, of Bay Minette was reported overboard by the Carnival Holiday at 12:04 a.m. CDT Tuesday, the Coast Guard said. The ship was about 75 miles southwest of Pensacola, Fla., at the time.
Carnival Corp. said a passenger reported hearing a splash in the water about 11 p.m. CDT, prompting a cabin-by-cabin search aboard the Holiday. Crew members lowered lifeboats to look for the woman but found nothing.
The Coast Guard search included two cutters, two airplanes and a helicopter.
The Holiday, with a capacity of 1,452 passengers, is due back in Mobile on Saturday after a five-day trip to the Yucatan Peninsula.
Vilborg's disappearance marked at least the third time in less than a month that a passenger went overboard from a Carnival ship based on the Gulf Coast.
A 46-year-old man who fell off the Carnival Inspiration was recused early Monday as it returned to port in Tampa, Fla. The man, who was found clinging to a buoy, told authorities he slipped after climbing on a railing to get a better view of the pilot boat.
A Louisiana teenager on a high school graduation cruise aboard the Carnival Fantasy out of New Orleans went over the rails on May 24 about 150 miles southwest of Tampa, Fla. Authorities suspended a search after two days without locating his body.












