NEW ORLEANS – The Coast Guard has suspended its search for a missing cruise ship crewmember approximately 170 miles southeast of Galveston, Texas, Tuesday.
The Coast Guard suspended the search for Norman DeCastro 12:42 p.m. after searching a total of over 5,000 square nautical miles.
Watchstanders at the Coast Guard Eighth District command center in New Orleans received a report Monday that a 39-year-old Filipino crewmember aboard the cruise ship Liberty of the Seas was missing and was last seen at 10:30 p.m., Sunday, on the ship’s closed-circuit television.
Involved in the search were:
- An HC-144 Ocean Sentry airplane crew from Coast Guard Air Station Corpus Christi, Texas.
- An HC-144 Ocean Sentry airplane crew from Coast Guard Aviation Training Center Mobile, Alabama.
- The crew of Coast Guard Cutter Manowar, an 87-foot patrol boat from Galveston, Texas.
- The crew of Coast Guard Cutter Pompano, an 87-foot patrol boat from Gulfport, Mississippi.