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Coast Guard suspends search for missing Carnival Ecstasy passenger

Submitted by kgnadmin on

After covering more than 2,800 square miles over 43 hours span, the US Coast Guard suspended the search for Rina Patel. The 32-year-old woman sailing with her family aboard Carnival Ecstasy was last seen jumping from deck 11 aft on Wednesday. This tragic event occurred at around 2:30 a.m. while the ship was sailing 27 miles southwest of Freeport, Bahamas. Ecstasy crew initiated emergency person overboard procedures and was searching for the missing woman until the ship was relieved by the Coast Guard who continued the search. Search and rescue helicopter, airplane and ship was deployed at the GPS coordinates where the woman was last seen, however the Coast Guard crew couldn’t locate Rina Patel. 

The chief of response management for the Coast Guard's 7th District Capt. Todd Coggeshall said “We would like to extend our deepest condolences to the loved ones and all that have been affected by this tragedy. Suspending search efforts is always a painful decision, but despite our best efforts we have been unable to locate Rina and have made the difficult decision to suspend the search pending any further developments.”