Search Ends for 77 Year-old Man Missing from the Carnival Cruise Ship "Fantasy"

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The search for the 77-year-old Hattiesburg man who went missing from a cruise ship that docked in New Orleans has ended. The Coast Guard suspended its search for the man at 10:15 a.m. Sunday, after investigators discovered a suicide note in the man's cabin, senior investigator Cheri' Ben-Iesau said It indicated the man, who traveled the cruise alone, had health problems, she said. The victim's identity was not released. He was last seen at 7 p.m. Friday, when the Carnival Cruise Ship Fantasy was still almost 28 miles from shore. The Coast Guard searched 400 square miles in the Gulf of Mexico and part of the Mississippi River from the Southwest Pass at the mouth of the river, north to the Port of New Orleans. The Guard also sifted through the ship's dock area "just in the hopes we would find the gentleman," Ben-Iesau said. The guard will continue to run a broadcast for the missing man, despite the fact it has ended the search for him. "We've engaged the maritime community," Ben-Iesau said. "All the vessels out there listen to the broadcasts, so anybody else coming into the area will be on the lookout for him."