The Coast Guard is searching for a Carnival Liberty cruise ship passenger who went overboard about 195 miles off the coast of Galveston, Texas.
Watchstanders with the 8th Coast Guard District received a call from the ship's master Friday evening reporting they had video of a woman, believed to be 33-year-old Samantha Broberg, falling overboard at about 2 a.m. Friday, just 10 hours after the ship left the port of Galveston on a four-day cruise to Cozumel, Mexico.
Broberg's travel companions had reported her missing earlier Friday, prompting a ship-wide search.
"Our steward came into our room, checked the closets, checked the bathroom, looked under the bed looked out on our balcony. I mean, they did a very thorough search," said passenger Jo Trizila of Dallas. "We knew it wasn’t going to end well when the last few updates the announcer said would you please just keep this family in your thoughts and prayers."
The ship's crew made a confirmation check on all the passengers, but Broberg was not accounted for, the Coast Guard said. An HC-144 Ocean Sentry and crew were sent from the Coast Guard Aviation Training Center in Mobile, Alabama, to search for the passenger in the area the ship was located when the passenger was last seen.
“You’re pretty much on camera 24/7,” said Steve Cosgrove of Dynamic Travel & Cruises in Southlake. “So, they’re able to go back and see exactly when this person may have gone overboard, what hall she walked down, who she was with, they can actually backtrack where was she prior and all of that type of stuff”.
Carnival’s CareTeam is providing support to Broberg’s travel companions and family, the company said in a statement.
