A passenger on Carnival Conquest went overboard early Sunday morning as the
ship was approaching Gulfport. According to sources, the Alabama man's fall
occurred off a tenth floor verandah; his wife and another passenger were
witnesses and immediately reported the incident. Crew and officers on the
ship, about 40 minutes out of Gulfport on its way back from a seven day
cruise, immediately went into "man overboard" emergency procedural response
and launched a "search and rescue" boat (basically a tender with special
equipment for this kind of emergency) off of Conquest. In addition, the U.S.
Coast Guard and other public authorities sent out search teams -- via
helicopter and boat.
The man has not been found.
The cause of the fall has not been determined but Carnival spokeswoman
Jennifer de la Cruz says "It is pretty much unheard of for someone to
accidentally fall overboard. The rails are designed in a way to prevent
that."
