Search for overboard passenger is suspended

The Coast Guaard and cruise liner Grand Princess have suspended the search for the 54-year-old passenger who is believed to have jumped off the vessel hundreds of miles northeast of Hilo. The vessel will dock at Honolulu Harbor today.

Prince Cruises, in a written statement issued Friday, said the 950-foot, 17-story vessel searched for the woman passenger for 32 hours after she was seen jumping off the boat on Wednesday afternoon. The cruise liner left the search area at 9 p.m. Thursday and headed toward Honolulu.

The incident prompted cancellation of a port call at Kauai’s Nawilwili Harbor.

The Coast Guard announced this afternoon that it was suspending its search by airplane, noting that it has covered 10,000 square miles of ocean.