Search suspended for passenger who jumped off Carnival cruise ship Mardi Gras

   April 19, 2022 ,   Accidents

Late Monday, April 18, the US Coast Guard crews ended the search for a cruise passenger who jumped off the CCL-Carnival Cruise Line's ship Mardi Gras ~63 miles offshore of Melbourne Florida.

At 1:15 a.m. on Saturday, a cruise ship crew notified CG watchstanders that a passenger had gone overboard. The man was identified as 43-year-old Tang Tran, a USCG news release said.

CG personnel and other entities spent a total of 58 hours searching ~2078 mi2 before the operation was suspended.

On Saturday morning Carnival Mardi Gras was heading to Port Canaveral (Orlando, Florida). During the search for Tran, USCG personnel deployed 3 cutters (Legare, Heron, Ibis) and an HC-144 Ocean Sentry surveillance plane from Air Station Miami.

In a Monday afternoon email, Coast Guard Sector Jacksonville personnel said the USCG made the decision to suspend active searching "based on a number of variables including weather, water temperature, sea state, and other factors."

“The timeline for each search will vary based on the specific incident.” 

Carnival Mardi Gras cruise ship

Mardi Gras is CCL-Carnival’s newest and largest ship, with 18 decks and max capacity 5282 passengers plus 1745 crew.

For more Carnival Mardi Gras incidents and accidents see the ship's CruiseMinus page.