Coast Guard calls off search for passenger missing from cruise ship off Texas

[May 16, 2016]  (Reuters) - The U.S. Coast Guard said on Sunday it had called off its search for a woman believed to have fallen overboard from the Carnival Liberty cruise ship off the coast of Galveston, Texas, two days earlier.

The large seawall that protects Galveston from major storms and the rising waters of the Gulf of Mexico is seen on Galveston Island, Texas March 6, 2014. REUTERS/Rick Wilking

The cruise ship alerted the Coast Guard on Friday that Samantha Broberg, 33, was missing and might have fallen overboard about 195 miles (315 km) from the Texas coast.

The Coast Guard said in a statement that its 8th District command center had coordinated 20 hours of aerial searching with a combined search area of more than 4,300 square miles.

Earlier, it said the cruise ship had a video of a woman falling overboard early on Friday morning and had conducted a search for all passengers on board, with Broberg found to be missing.

The Carnival Liberty cruise ship departed Galveston, Texas, on a four-day Mexico cruise on Thursday.

(Reporting by Chris Michaud; Editing by Paul Tait)

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