Woman Falls Overboard Cruise Ship Off Coast of Ensenada

A woman fell overboard into the Pacific Ocean from her stateroom balcony on a Carnival Cruise Line ship in the wee hours of Saturday morning, about 35 miles off the coast of Ensenada, Mexico.

The incident was captured on security footage at around 3:30 a.m. and the Carnival Miracle cruise liner was brought to a near-complete stop just afterward.

Carnival Miracle passenger Josh Zufelt told NBC News that the crew alerted the ship’s other passengers of the situation at that time, as a lifeboat was lowered into the water and search efforts commenced.

U.S. Coast Guard personnel were deployed out of San Diego to partner with the Mexican Navy in trying to locate the fallen passenger, a woman in her 20s who has not been publicly identified.

The Carnival Miracle—which has a 2,100-guest, 934-crew capacity—had departed from Long Beach on Thursday, and was released after assisting with Saturday’s search, continuing on to Ensenada.

According to San Diego’s local FOX5, the Coast Guard tweeted that an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter was utilized in Saturday’s search efforts, and later said that, “the USCGC Forrest Rednour is scheduled to continue the search throughout the night.”

On Sunday morning, after more than 31 hours of searching, the U.S. Coast Guard tweeted that it was “standing down pending additional information” and transiting back to U.S. waters.

Meanwhile, the Carnival Miracle returned to Los Angeles’ Port of Long Beach this morning, as scheduled, before departing on another round-trip Baja Mexico itinerary, according to CruiseMapper data.

Our thoughts are with the guest and her family, and our Care Team is providing support,” Carnival Cruise Line said in a statement made on Saturday.

Los Angeles’ ABC7 reported that the FBI met the ship upon its return to Long Beach to assist in the ongoing investigation.