MIAMI – The Coast Guard suspended its search at approximately 7:30 p.m. Wednesday for a 28-year-old Chinese crewmember believed to have gone overboard from the cruise ship Celebrity Constellation Monday morning.
The Coast Guard initially suspended its search at approximately 10 p.m. Tuesday but resumed its efforts this morning after receiving new information regarding video surveillance of the crewmember going overboard at 3:25 a.m. Monday.
Crews from Coast Guard Station Lake Worth Inlet, Fla., Station Fort Lauderdale, Fla., an HH-65C Dolphin helicopter from Air Station Miami, two HC-130 Hercules aircrafts from Air Station Clearwater, Fla., along with the Cutter Ocracoke searched more than 3,000 square miles in almost three days for the missing crewmember.
The missing crewmember did not report to muster at 6 a.m. Monday after the Celebrity Constellation moored in Port Everglades, Fla., around 5:50 a.m. Initial reports stated the man was last seen by another crewmember at 5 a.m. but video surveillance from the ship shows him going overboard at 3:25 a.m.
The crew of the Celebrity Constellation searched the ship immediately after the man was not at the morning meeting. The Coast Guard was notified at 1:40 p.m. that the man was missing.
The Cutter Ocracoke is a 110-foot patrol boat homeported in Miami.
