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Search Under Way For Overboard Cruise Ship Employee

Tribune file photo

The Carnival Sensation was returning to Port Canaveral from a four-day cruise to the Bahamas.

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By MARILYN BROWN | The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 1, 2009

Updated: 01/01/2009 02:50 pm

The Coast Guard is searching for a cruise ship employee who fell overboard the Carnival Sensation about 20 miles east of Vero Beach early this morning.

The man is a member of the entertainment staff and was off-duty, according to a statement issued by Carnival. He was seen falling overboard by six crew members about 12:40 a.m., the statement said.

The cruise was returning to Port Canaveral after a four-day Bahamas cruise that started Sunday.

The man, who has not been identified by authorities or by Carnival officials, was the second person to go overboard on a cruise ship in a week. Jennifer Ellis-Seitz, 36, of Winter Haven, was reported missing from the Norwegian Pearl off Cancun, Mexico, last Friday. She has not been found, and that search has been called off.

The Carnival incident was reported to cruise officials by co-workers around 12:50 a.m. Ship personnel contacted the Coast Guard for assistance and started a search for the employee.

Coast Guard search and rescue efforts in Miami and Fort Pierce are using one plane, two helicopters, including one from Clearwater, two 87-foot cutters and a 33-foot response boat. Later today, a C-130 Hercules fixed-wing aircraft will be added, said Petty Officer Second Class James Harless.

The Norwegian Pearl returned to Miami on Sunday after its seven-day cruise to the western Caribbean. The Coast Guard reported images from a ship surveillance camera of someone falling from the ship about 8 p.m. Dec. 25. Raymond Seitz reported his wife missing shortly before 4 a.m. last Friday.

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