The Tribune

THE US Coast Guard ended its search on Friday for a New York woman who went overboard while on a cruise in The Bahamas.

Coast Guard ships and air crews spent 43 hours searching nearly 3,000 square miles of ocean southwest of Grand Bahama. Captain Todd Coggeshall said on Friday that they did not find any trace of the woman and had to make the difficult decision to suspend the search.

Authorities said 32-year-old Rina Patel of Interlaken, New York, went overboard from the 11th deck of the Carnival Ecstasy early on Wednesday as the ship passed near Grand Bahama. Carnival Cruise Line reported that she apparently jumped overboard.

The cruise ship had left Nassau and was heading to Charleston, South Carolina, at the time.