U.S. Coast Guard suspends search for 72-year-old missing cruise passenger

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'The vessel was approximately 500 nautical miles from the area where she was believed to have entered the water,' the U.S. Coast Guard told Global News.

The U.S. Coast Guard has suspended the search for a 72-year-old British woman who is believed to have fallen off a TUI-operated cruise ship in the Atlantic.

The woman was last seen on board TUI’s Marella Voyager on Monday afternoon as it went from Malaga in Spain to the Caribbean.

In a statement to Global News, the U.S. Coast Guard said that at approximately 7:33 p.m. on Nov. 10, Coast Guard East District command center watchstanders received a report from Marella Voyager that a passenger was missing.

“The vessel’s crew determined she was unaccounted for after routine cabin service personnel found her cabin and bed untouched and initiated the ship’s missing-person procedures. The Marella Voyager reported the vessel did not have enough fuel to return to the search area,” the U.S. Coast Guard added.

The last confirmed electronic record of the woman was a cabin door access event mid-day on Nov. 9.

“Due to the delay between her last known contact and the report made to rescue authorities, the vessel was approximately 500 nautical miles from the area where she was believed to have entered the water,” the Coast Guard said.

Search and rescue coordination required close collaboration among multiple international rescue coordination centres and maritime partners because the incident occurred in a remote area of the North Atlantic Ocean.

Coast Guard watchstanders coordinated extensively with search and rescue partners, including the Maritime Rescue Coordination Center Delgada and Joint Rescue Coordination Center United Kingdom, and issued urgent maritime broadcasts requesting assistance from vessels in the area after notified of the missing woman.

“After considering the extensive search area, the elapsed time between the presumed incident and notification, the lack of available search assets in the remote location, negative results from maritime broadcasts, the sea state, and the low likelihood of survival, the Coast Guard suspended active search efforts at 3:47 p.m.

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