CHARLESTON, SC – The U.S Coast Guard announced tonight that they have suspended the search for missing cruise ship passenger, 32-year-old Rina Patel from Interlaken,New York.
The Carnival Ecstasy passenger ship Patel was aboard was traveling southwest of Freeport, Bahamas
Captain Todd Coggeshall, chief of response management of the Coast Guard’s 7th District released the statement: “We would like to extend our deepest condolences to the loved ones and all that have been affected by this tragedy.”
Captain Coggeshall went on to say that suspending search efforts is always a painful decision but despite the best effort from the search team, Patel has not been located and they have decided to suspend the search pending any further developments.
The Coast Guard’s 7th district command center coordinated 43 hours of searching with a combined search area of more than 2,800 square miles.
