JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – U.S. Coast Guard boat and air crews continue to search Wednesday for the man who was reported overboard from the Carnival cruise ship Fascination Tuesday morning about 25 miles off New Smyrna Beach, Fla.
Missing is Army Sgt. Ronald Kemp, 31, assigned to Fort Stewart-Hunter Army Airfield in Fort Stewart, Ga.
Currently searching for Kemp are: the 210-foot Coast Guard Cutter Resolute homeported in St. Petersburg, Fla.; the 154-foot Coast Guard Cutter Bernard C. Webber, a Sentinel Class Fast Response Cutter homeported in Miami; the 87-foot Coast Guard Cutter Shrike homeported in Port Canaveral, Fla.; and an HH-60 Jayhawk helicopter from Air Station Clearwater, Fla.
An Air Force plane and two helicopters from Patrick Air Force Base in Cocoa Beach, Fla., also assisted with the search Tuesday night.
Crewmembers aboard the Fascination reported witnessing Kemp go overboard Tuesday morning and immediately reported the incident to watchstanders in the Coast Guard Sector Jacksonville command center.
The Fascination departed the cruise terminal in Jacksonville, Fla., at approximately 5 p.m., Monday en route to Key West Fla.
The Coast Guard is investigating the incident.
