Late Monday, April 18, the US Coast Guard crews ended the search for a cruise passenger who jumped off the CCL-Carnival Cruise Line's ship Mardi Gras ~63 miles offshore of Melbourne Florida.
At 1:15 a.m. on Saturday, a cruise ship crew notified CG watchstanders that a passenger had gone overboard. The man was identified as 43-year-old Tang Tran, a USCG news release said.
CG personnel and other entities spent a total of 58 hours searching ~2078 mi2 before the operation was suspended.
On Saturday morning Carnival Mardi Gras was heading to Port Canaveral (Orlando, Florida). During the search for Tran, USCG personnel deployed 3 cutters (Legare, Heron, Ibis) and an HC-144 Ocean Sentry surveillance plane from Air Station Miami.
In a Monday afternoon email, Coast Guard Sector Jacksonville personnel said the USCG made the decision to suspend active searching "based on a number of variables including weather, water temperature, sea state, and other factors."
“The timeline for each search will vary based on the specific incident.”
Mardi Gras is CCL-Carnival’s newest and largest ship, with 18 decks and max capacity 5282 passengers plus 1745 crew.
For more Carnival Mardi Gras incidents and accidents see the ship's CruiseMinus page.