The U.S. Coast Guard has suspended its search for a woman who reportedly fell off a cruise ship near the Bahamas.
The search for 32-year-old Rina Patel was suspended just after 7:30 p.m. Thursday, officials said.
Patel, from Interlaken, New York, apparently fell from the 11th deck of the Carnival Ecstasy as the ship passed near the island of Grand Bahama early Wednesday. Carnival Cruise Line reported that she was witnessed jumping overboard around 2:30 a.m.
After searching for 43 hours by boat and by air, covering more than 2,800 square miles, the search was called off, officials said.
RELATED: Woman reportedly falls from Carnival ship off Bahamas, Coast Guard says
"We would like to extend our deepest condolences to the loved ones and all that have been affected by this tragedy," Capt. Todd Coggeshall, chief of response management for the Coast Guard's 7th District, said in a statement. "Suspending search efforts is always a painful decision, but despite our best efforts we have been unable to locate Rina and have made the difficult decision to suspend the search pending any further developments."
The cruise ship had left Nassau, Bahamas and was en route to Charleston, South Carolina, where it was scheduled to dock Thursday.
Courtesy of our news partner at NBC Miami
#BreakingNews #Update Coast Guard suspends search for missing cruise ship passenger. Read more at https://t.co/Jxw0JSLxXV
— USCGSoutheast (@USCGSoutheast) September 9, 2016
