MIAMI (WSVN) – A search is underway after a woman fell off the deck of a Norwegian cruise ship, Thursday night.
A search plane took off from Clearwater Thursday morning, but the woman is still nowhere to be found. "We've now been on scene for more than 14 hours, no sign of her, so it's a dire situation," said U.S. Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Gabe Somma. The Coast Guard is searching 325 nautical miles from where the woman went overboard.
Hundreds of electronic dance music fans were on board the Norwegian Pearl cruise ship for a four-day event called "Mad Decent Boat Party."
The woman, whose identity has not yet been released, went overboard about 22 miles off the coast of Cuba at around 7 p.m.
Norwegian Cruise Line released a statement that read in part, "During a chartered cruise on Norwegian Pearl, a female guest was observed intentionally going overboard while the ship was sailing the Yucatan channel. The ship's crew immediately initiated rescue measures."
- Man who fell overboard cruise ship had threatened to jump minutes before, police say
- Relatives of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro arrested trying to smuggle nearly 1 ton of drugs into U.S.
- It’s gloves off for Cruz and Rubio in their quest to be GOP presidential nominee
- Ted Cruz jokes about his Rick Perry ‘oops’ moment; praised for immigration stance
- Best pix of the week
- South Florida, The Nation’s Next Tech Hot Spot?
The U.S. Coast Guard is now assisting in the search by boat and plane.
The ship left from Port of Miami Wednesday afternoon. It was headed to Cozumel, Mexico and scheduled to return to Miami on Sunday. The hundreds of shocked passengers on board took to Twitter to post about the incident.
For more stories go to: www.wsvn.com