A man reported missing from the CCL-Carnival Cruise Line’s ship Carnival Valor navigating in the Gulf of Mexico was found in the water/rescued on Thursday, November 24, the US Coast Guard announced.
The missing passenger was found responsive at the time of the rescue operation and was transferred to emergency medical personnel at New Orleans Lakefront Airport.
The man was last seen by his sister at an onboard bar Wednesday night, Carnival spokesperson Matt Lupoli revealed. The sister said the man left the bar around 11 pm to use the restroom and never returned to his stateroom.
She reported him missing at noon on Thursday.
Lupoli said Carnival Valor had retraced her route to support the search and rescue. The ship has since been released by the USCG and headed to Cozumel (Quintana Roo Mexico, Riviera Maya).
Carnival Valor had left the port of New Orleans (Port NOLA, Louisiana) on Wednesday.
In a statement, USCG's Lt. Phillip VanderWeit said that after receiving a call from the Carnival ship at ~2:30 pm on Thursday, the CG had launched a multi-crew search effort by air and sea.
After the passenger was spotted by a crew on another ship, an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter aircrew hoisted him onto the helicopter.
At ~2 pm, the ship turned around to head back. Passengers were told that their arrival time at the port of call, Cozumel, would be delayed.
Later Thursday evening, an announcement over the ship’s PA system informed travelers that there had been a man overboard accident, but Carnival Valor was released from the search and resumed travel to Cozumel.
At the time of the accident, the ship was on a 5-day Western Caribbean cruise roundtrip from Port NOLA.
For more Carnival Valor incidents and accidents see the ship's CruiseMinus page.