Search launched for missing cruise ship passenger

August 3, 2009
AP via ksn.com

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — The Coast Guard has launched a massive search in frigid Alaska waters for a cruise ship passenger who is believed to have fallen overboard.

The Coast Guard says the 45-year-old woman was reported missing by a friend at 10 a.m. Monday when the ship Zaandam was in Glacier Bay National Park about 75 miles northwest of Juneau.

The woman was last seen after she ordered room service about midnight, when the vessel was near Douglas Island.

Coast Guard spokesman Paul Webb says the search is focusing on the glacier-fed waters between the two points, which are 80 miles apart.

The waters in the area are 57 degrees. Taking part in the search are Coast Guard aircraft and cutters as well as civil air patrol pilots.