A 19 year old man from Texas fell overboard from a Royal

A 19-year-old man from Texas fell overboard from a Royal Caribbean cruise ship. An ongoing search has not yet found him – CNN

CNN –

A 19-year-old cruise ship passenger fell overboard in the Caribbean on Tuesday and a search is underway for him, according to cruise company Royal Caribbean and the passenger’s family.

But a relative of missing Texas resident Sigmund Ropich says the family is desperate for answers and hasn’t heard much from Cuban Border Patrol officials leading the search.

“We just want our brother to be home. They take too long and barely tell us anything,” his sister Savannah Ropich told CNN, confirming he was a passenger on the trip.

The Royal Caribbean ship Wonder of the Seas departed Port Canaveral, Florida, on August 27 and set off on a seven-day voyage to the Western Caribbean, according to its itinerary.

It is unclear how the 19-year-old fell overboard and exactly how long he was in the water before the search for him began. The ship’s crew “immediately launched a search and rescue operation and is working closely with local authorities,” Royal Caribbean said in a statement on Wednesday.

Jenna Izzo of Rhode Island, who was on the cruise ship, used a voice Recording app to capture the moment the captain told passengers about the search.

“We actually have a report of a man who fell overboard. “We have slowed the ship,” the ship’s captain told passengers over the intercom, according to the voice memo Izzo shared with CNN.

“We have made the U-turn and are returning to the position we had then,” the recording continues. “We will begin the search and rescue operations with our rescue boat, with our searchlight and our crew moving out to watch and listen for anything.”

Izzo also captured nighttime video showing a rescue crew using the ship’s spotlight to search the waters. Izzo said the cruise ship searched for three hours before continuing on to Grand Cayman.

According to Ropich’s sister and a U.S. Coast Guard spokesman, the Cuban Border Patrol is now leading the search for Ropich.

Savannah Ropich said Friday that the U.S. Consulate had contacted the family and informed the Cuban Border Patrol “We will stop the sea search and only conduct a coastal and land search.”

CNN has reached out to Cuban border patrol officials for information but has not yet heard back.

According to the company, the 5,606-guest capacity ship is scheduled to return to Port Canaveral on September 3.