Ohio Man Missing From Cruise Ship
17.05.2006 09:42 - category: Category two: Sub category 1 - Source: CBS
(AP) The Coast Guard began searching Tuesday for a 21-year-old man reported missing from a cruise ship that had left Florida for the Bahamas.
The man was reported missing around 11 a.m. Monday when his friends realized he had not slept in the cabin they shared, Royal Caribbean International spokesman Michael Sheehan said in a statement. Relatives identified him as Daniel DiPiero of Canfield, Ohio.
The Coast Guard received the "man overboard" report around 7 p.m., Petty Officer Dana Warr said.
Poor weather delayed an aerial search until early Tuesday, when a C-130 airplane took off to follow the ship's path.
The Bahamian Coast Guard is assisting, and the FBI is expected to board the ship Wednesday in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Camera footage from Royal Caribbean's Mariner of the Seas last showed DiPiero around 2:15 a.m. Monday on the fourth deck, leaning on a rail, Warr said.
In the video, he is alone for nearly two hours, lying in a chair most of the time, according to the cruise line.
Royal Caribbean waited to alert the Coast Guard because it wanted to make sure the missing man was not on board or on the company's private island where the ship docked Monday, Sheehan said.
Royal Caribbean said it was cooperating fully with authorities and is providing counseling to the man's family.
The cruise line flew his parents and two younger sisters to meet the ship in the Virgin Islands, said DiPiero's aunt Nancy Dixon.
Royal Caribbean has dealt with criticism since George Allen Smith IV, 26, of Greenwich, Conn., disappeared from the line's Brilliance of the Seas last summer, apparently after a night of drinking. Blood stains were found on a canopy that covers life boats, but his body was never found.
Smith's family has accused Royal Caribbean of covering up the disappearance, which the company denies. The FBI has been investigating the disappearance.
The cruise line is owned by Miami-based Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.
The man was reported missing around 11 a.m. Monday when his friends realized he had not slept in the cabin they shared, Royal Caribbean International spokesman Michael Sheehan said in a statement. Relatives identified him as Daniel DiPiero of Canfield, Ohio.
The Coast Guard received the "man overboard" report around 7 p.m., Petty Officer Dana Warr said.
Poor weather delayed an aerial search until early Tuesday, when a C-130 airplane took off to follow the ship's path.
The Bahamian Coast Guard is assisting, and the FBI is expected to board the ship Wednesday in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Camera footage from Royal Caribbean's Mariner of the Seas last showed DiPiero around 2:15 a.m. Monday on the fourth deck, leaning on a rail, Warr said.
In the video, he is alone for nearly two hours, lying in a chair most of the time, according to the cruise line.
Royal Caribbean waited to alert the Coast Guard because it wanted to make sure the missing man was not on board or on the company's private island where the ship docked Monday, Sheehan said.
Royal Caribbean said it was cooperating fully with authorities and is providing counseling to the man's family.
The cruise line flew his parents and two younger sisters to meet the ship in the Virgin Islands, said DiPiero's aunt Nancy Dixon.
Royal Caribbean has dealt with criticism since George Allen Smith IV, 26, of Greenwich, Conn., disappeared from the line's Brilliance of the Seas last summer, apparently after a night of drinking. Blood stains were found on a canopy that covers life boats, but his body was never found.
Smith's family has accused Royal Caribbean of covering up the disappearance, which the company denies. The FBI has been investigating the disappearance.
The cruise line is owned by Miami-based Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.
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