CNN
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A search continues after a 19-year-old cruise ship passenger fell overboard in the Caribbean on Tuesday, according to cruise line Royal Caribbean and the passenger’s family.
But one relative of missing Texas resident Sigmund Lopich said his family is desperate for answers but hasn’t heard much from Cuban Border Patrol agents who are leading the search. Ta.
“We just want our brother home. It’s taking too long and they don’t tell us much,” his sister Savanna Lopich told CNN, adding that he was a passenger on the voyage. admitted.
Royal Caribbean’s ship Wonder of the Seas left Port Canaveral, Florida, on August 27 for a seven-day voyage in the Western Caribbean, according to the itinerary.
It is unclear how the 19-year-old fell into the water or how long he was underwater before the search began. Royal Caribbean said in a statement Wednesday that the ship’s crew “immediately began search and rescue operations and are working closely with local authorities.”
Jenna Izzo, a Rhode Island resident who was on the cruise ship, said: An app that records the moment the captain tells passengers about the search.
“In fact, there are reports of a man falling overboard,” the captain told passengers over the intercom, according to an audio memo Izzo shared with CNN.
“We have turned around and are returning to where we were,” the recording continued. “We’ll start a search and rescue operation with a rescue boat, put spotlights on it, get our crew out there, looking and listening for anything.”
Izzo also captured nighttime video showing rescue workers searching using the ship’s spotlights. body of water. Izzo said the cruise ship searched for three hours before heading to Grand Cayman Island.
The Cuban Border Patrol is currently leading the search for Lopich, according to his sister and a U.S. Coast Guard spokeswoman.
Savanna Lopich said the U.S. Consulate General contacted her family on Friday, and the Cuban Border Patrol contacted them. “The marine search has been canceled and only coastal and land searches will be conducted.”
CNN has requested information from Cuban border officials, but has not yet received a response.
On the ship, Guest capacity: 5,606 people – The company says it is scheduled to return to Port Canaveral on September 3rd.