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UPDATE: Coast Guard recovers cruise ship passenger who went overboard near Juan de Fuca Strait

The 73-year old man was aboard a ship heading to Victoria, and fell overboard around 4:30 a.m.
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A 73-year old man was seen falling from athe Seven Seas Mariner cruise ship near the mouth of the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

The US Coast Guard announced that this afternoon one of their helicopters recovered an unresponsive individual from the water near the Strait of Juan de Fuca. He was transferred to the Olympic Medical Centre, where he was later announced deceased.

The 73-year old man went overboard from the Seven Seas Mariner this morning around 4:30 a.m. when the ship was near Cape Flattery, around the mouth of the strait of Juan de Fuca.

Victoria’s Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre (JRCC) and the US Coast Guard were working together to try to locate him.

“We offer our deepest condolences to the family and friends of the victim who were affected by this tragedy,” said Capt. M.M. Balding, Sector Puget Sound Commanding Officer. “Any time we are unable to accomplish our goal of saving lives, we are deeply saddened. Our thoughts are with them in their time of grief.”

Multiple Coast Guard crews are looking for a passenger who potentially fell off of a cruise ship near Cape Flattery, around the mouth of the Strait of Juan de Fuca. (Google Maps)

The man was last seen by his wife around 4:00 a.m. She noticed he was missing around 4:30 a.m., when she felt the breeze from her open balcony door.

The USCG Pacific Northwest Twitter account originally released a statement, saying that a captain from the ship confirmed that a video showed the passenger jumping from an 8th-deck balcony at 4:15 a.m.

In an update, they have noted that there is no indication that the man jumped, or why he went overboard.

A Coast Guard Air Station Port Angeles aircrew, two Station Neah Bay boat crews, the Coast Guard Cutter Wahoo crew and a Canadian Coast Guard helicopter crew thoroughly searched the area before locating and recovering the individual.

The cause of the incident is currently under investigation.

The cruise ship, Seven Seas Mariner, is bound for Alaska and arrived in Victoria at 11:00 a.m. today.

Nicole.crescenzi@vicnews.com

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A 73-year old man was unresponive when members of the US Coast Guard pulled him from the water. He had fallen overboard from the Seven Seas Mariner cruise ship around 4:30 this morning.(File contributed)