The US Coast Guard rescued a man in the Gulf of Mexico (Picture: Getty Images)
A man who went missing from a cruise ship was found in the water and rescued in the Gulf of Mexico on Thanksgiving Day.
The man had fallen overboard the Carnival Valor and was found responsive by US Coast Guard officials on Thursday.
He was taken to medics at the New Orleans Lakefront Airport the same day, Coast Guard Petty Officer Ryan Graves told CNN.
The man’s sister last saw him at a bar aboard the cruise and said he went to the restroom around 11pm on Wednesday, according to Carnival spokesperson Matt Lupoli.
A man was missing from the Carnival Valor cruise ship (Picture: Getty Images)
He did not return to the stateroom and his sister reported him missing at noon on Thursday.
‘Carnival Valor retraced its route to support the search and rescue,’ stated Lupoli.
The ship departed from a port in New Orleans on Wednesday and called the Coast Guard about the missing man at 2.30pm on Thursday.
Multiple crews were dispatched to search for him by sea and land, stated Coast Guard Lt Phillip VanderWeit.
Crew on another vessel saw the man and an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter hoisted the man onto the aircraft, according to VanderWeit.
A passenger on the cruise, Mike Anderson, said he heard announcements for the missing passenger to go to guest services. Anderson also told CNN he observed security workers had a photo of the missing man on their phones and were walking around looking for him.
Anderson added that the ship did not inform passengers that the man had disappeared but began turning back forward the departure point around 2pm on Thursday. Ship officials said over the PA system that the arrival to Cozumel, Mexico, would be delayed.
On Thursday evening, officials announced that a man had been overboard and that the ship was no longer needed in the search and rescue and that it would continue on the journey to Cozumel.
The man was rescued a month after Dilek Ertek, the owner of Tiffany’s, fell off the Norwegian Spirit in Tahiti while on vacation with her boyfriend.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at [email protected].
For more stories like this, check our news page.
The US Coast Guard rescued a man in the Gulf of Mexico.
