Truemors
The Coast Guard on Monday suspended an ocean search for a Pine Hill woman missing from a cruise ship, but family members said they're still looking for answers about their loved one's disappearance.
Mindy Jordan, 46, fell overboard from the Norwegian Dawn about 7:50 p.m. Sunday, when the cruise ship was about 45 miles northeast of Atlantic City, according to the Coast Guard.
But Jordan's relatives want an investigation into the incident, her sister, Julie August of Mount Laurel, said Monday.
"My sister is a professional. She's a nurse and a mother," said August. "This is not somebody who's going to be jumping up on a rail."
Relatives learned of Jordan's disappearance from her boyfriend and traveling companion, Jorge Caputo of Pine Hill, August said.
"He said she was clowning around and she fell over," said August. "Who knows? We weren't there."
But, she contended, "It's just not adding up."
A Coast Guard spokesman said a "marine casualty investigation" will look into the cruise ship's operation during the incident.
"From what I understand, the FBI's also involved in this particular case," said the spokesman, Petty Officer Christopher Evanson. "They are separate investigations."
An FBI representative could not be reached for comment.
Caputo also could not be reached as the cruise ship, which left New York at 4 p.m. Sunday, continued en route to Bermuda.
The Coast Guard, which was told of Jordan's disappearance at 8:21 p.m. Sunday, conducted a helicopter search over about 60 square miles until shortly after 3 a.m. Monday.
Norwegian Dawn crew members also threw life rings into the ocean and deployed a small boat to look for Jordan.
The Coast Guard search, which was suspended due to bad weather, would be resumed only if more is learned about Jordan's location, Evanson said.
Family members expect the worst.
"It's been such a long time," said August, who said Jordan is the mother of two teenage children.
"My mother had talked to her (by phone) while she was on her way to the ship, and she sounded fine," added August. "She was happy to be going."
She described Jordan, a licensed practical nurse who provided home health care, as "loving and warmhearted."
"She generally took care of children who were dying or on life support," said August. "That tells you the kind of person she was."
More story details:
ATLANTIC CITY - Monday's stormy weather forced the Coast Guard to call off the search for a woman who apparently fell off a cruise ship about 45 miles northeast of the resort, officials said.
The U.S. Coast Guard said it received a call at about 8:21 p.m. Sunday that a 46-year-old woman on the Norwegian Dawn cruise ship fell overboard. A helicopter crew from the Atlantic City station arrived about 40 minutes later and ran search patterns until 10:53 p.m., with no success. An HH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew from Cape Cod, Mass., arrived shortly after midnight and searched for three hours until they were forced to quit because of bad weather.
The search for the passenger resumed Monday morning, but was called off at about noon because of foul weather, said Petty Officer Nyx Cangemi, of the Atlantic City station.
The operation was one of four weather-related rescues launched from the Atlantic City station Monday, Cangemi said.
"It's been a busy, busy day since we've had this foul weather come through," Cangemi said.
"...What they told me on the phone was she fell over the railing and fell to something down on a lower deck and that he ran to try and save her but she lost her grip and fell," Louise Jordan told the television station.
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