AP Features, July 2nd, 2007
A Maryland man was rescued early Monday from the ocean off Florida after he reportedly jumped from a cruise ship, the Coast Guard said.
The Carnival Liberty alerted the Coast Guard around 11:35 p.m. Sunday that Scott Durrin, 29, of Rockville, Md., had possibly jumped overboard, according to the Coast Guard.
The Coast Guard was told Durrin appeared to have been intoxicated, Petty Officer James Judge said.
Durrin fell about 36 feet into the water about 50 miles off the coast of Boca Raton. Crew aboard the Liberty threw life-rings and jackets over the side. Coast Guard crews located Durrin about an hour later.
Judge said Durrin was being examined early Monday but he did not know if the man had suffered any injuries. A spokesman for Miami-based Carnival Corp. did not immediately return a phone message early Monday.
On Sunday, an 18-year-old man died early Sunday after he jumped from a cruise ship into the Gulf of Mexico.
Officials with Carnival Cruise Lines said the man jumped from aboard the Ecstasy, a 70,000-ton cruise ship that sailed out of Galveston, Texas, on Saturday for a five-day round-trip cruise to Cozumel, Mexico.
Vance Gulliksen, a spokesman for the cruise line, said in a statement that "an 18-year-old male passenger was seen jumping overboard from one of the ships upper decks" about 7:35 a.m. Officials aboard the Ecstasy initiated a search and notified the U.S. Coast Guard.
Gulliksen said the passenger was recovered by the crew about a half-hour later and brought on board, where he was pronounced dead. He has not been identified.
The Ecstasy, which holds 2,052 passengers, was en route to Cozumel, Gulliksen said, and was expected to arrive Monday morning. It is scheduled to return to Galveston on Thursday.
