USCG Ends Search for Carnival Elation Passenger

The search for the passenger who went overboard from the cruise ship Carnival Elation on February 13 was suspended in the evening hours on Tuesday, according to the United States Coast Guard (USCG).

Namely, the passenger, identified as the 24-year-old Kevin Wellons from Georgia, went overboard while the cruise ship was sailing 14 nautical miles northeast of Great Harbor Cay in the Bahamas.

The owner of the cruise ship, Carnival Cruise Line, informed that a guest notified shipboard personnel aboard Carnival Elation that her spouse was missing and indicated he was last seen around 2.30 am. The ship was docked in Nassau when the notification was made, according to the company.

“A full search of the vessel and subsequent review of camera footage indicates the individual went overboard at approximately 2.45 am,” a representative from Carnival Cruise Line said.

Both Bahamian and US authorities were notified and the US Coast Guard initiated search and rescue activities.

The coast guard teams, including an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew and HC-144 Ocean Sentry airplane crews, covered more than 1,381 square miles over nine hours searching for the missing passenger.

The 1998-built Carnival Elation, based year-round in Jacksonville, Florida, departed on a five-day Bahamas cruise on February 11.

At the time of the incident the cruise ship was transiting from Jacksonville to their first port of call in Nassau, Bahamas.

World Maritime News Staff