Jaylen Hill: Coast Guard calls off search for Carnival cruise ship passenger who jumped overboard near Florida
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The US Coast Guard has ended its search for a man who jumped from the deck of a Carnival cruise ship.
Surveillance video reportedly captured 30-year-old Jaylen Hill leaping over the railing of the Carnival Elation on Sunday afternoon off the coast of Melbourne, Florida.
On Monday night, Coast Guard officials announced the search had been called off “pending any further developments”.
“We offer our deepest condolences to the Hill family. Our crews take our life saving mission very seriously. Any time we can’t bring a loved one home to their family is a pain we all feel,” Petty Officer Eric Rodriguez said in a statement.
Rescue crews scoured more than 1,374 miles in their search using the 87-foot cutter Tarpon from St Petersburg, a Hercules aircraft from Clearwater, and an Ocean Sentry plane from Miami.
Carnival previously said the Elation crew was informed by Mr Hill’s travelling companion late on Sunday afternoon that he had not been seen all day.
Jaylen Hill, 30, was allegedly filmed jumping off of a Carnival cruise ship near Florida on 23 July (US Coast Guard via Twitter)
“Sadly, after an exhaustive on-board search and a review of security camera video it was determined that he jumped,” the company said in a statement to The New York Post.
Carnival added that it alerted officials to the incident and was advised to continue to Jacksonville, Florida, on Monday, the final stop on the cruise’s four-day route through the Bahamas.
The 855-foot Elation weighs nearly 72,000 tons and can carry nearly 2,200 guests, as well as 900 crew members, according to Fox 35 Orlando.
The Carnival Elation cruise ship is pictured (right) in a file photo (AFP via Getty Images)
In May, a Carnival passenger named Ronnie Peale went overboard the ship Magic and fell into the waters off Florida.
The Coast Guard was unable to locate the man after searching more than 5,171 miles over 60 hours and called off the search.
Source: The Independent
