Cruise Ship Crew Member Missing
Celebrity Constellation
February 18, 2008
Unnamed Male
Date: February 18, 2008
Cruise Bruise: Missing
Bruise Location: Off Florida
Age: 28
Home Town: China
Cruise Line: Celebrity Cruises
Ship: Constellation
Details:
Celebrity Cruise Lines
Ship: Constellation
Built: 2002
Refurbished: N/A
Registry: Bahamas
Size: 91,000 Gross Tons
Length: 964 feet
Passengers: 1,950
Crew: 999
Florida Webcams > HERE
A crew member did not report for duty at 0600 hours this morning when the ship moored in Port Everglades after a Caribbean cruise.
Early reports say the man was last seen at 0500 hours while the ship was on the way to port.
After a search of the ship, notification was sent to the United States Coast Guard at around 1340 hours (1:40pm) today.
The crew member had been missing for at least seven and hours before a search for the sea began looking for him.
The water temperature as measure today off Cape Canaveral was 72.9 °F. Cape Canaveral, Florida is 200 miles north of Port Everglades, Florida. This is also the average water temperature for the month of February.
A search of the sea has now begun using a rescue boat and helicopter. A area of the sea 24 miles square is being searched off Hillsborough Inlet.
The USCG is saying that search and rescue crews from Sector Miami launched a rescue boat from Coast Guard Station Lake Worth Inlet, Florida and an HH-65C Dolphin helicopter from Air Station Miami, Florida.
This story is unfolding, please check back.
This is the second time in February a crew member went missing at sea. The other case is here
UPDATE: FEBRUARY 19, 2008
The USCG has expanded the search area to include a 1200 square mile area and have added additional search and rescue personnel and equipment to the effort.
The USCG says they are adding a C-130 airplane to the search. Crews from Lake Worth Inlet and the Ft. Lauderdale Coast Guard stations have been assigned to the search as well.
UPDATE: FEBRUARY 20, 2008 - 2130 hours
The USCG search continues after the USCG was notified by the cruise line that ship's video actually showed the man going overboard at 0325 hours (3:25am).
Since there was no reliable way of knowing for sure the man was in the sea, the search had stopped at 2200 hours the night before. With the video confirming the man was in the sea, the search resumed.
The search of the sea is now confirmed to have began after the man had been in the water for about ten hours.
About 1500 square miles of water has been searched. Now, with 66 hours having passed, it is unlikely the man will be found alive.
While the video is said to show the man going overboard, it is not known if the man jumped, fell, was blown over, was pushed or tossed over into the sea. All reports always say "fell", though that is not always the case, giving inaccurate details as to how the person ended up in the sea.
