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Associated PressOfficials say the man may have fallen overboard. Searches off the Jacksonville coast and in the St. Johns River didn't find him.
JACKSONVILLE - The Coast Guard suspended its search Friday for a 54-year-old Virginia man reported missing after the Carnival Cruise Line ship Celebration arrived without him from a five-day cruise to the Bahamas.
After searching 350 square miles in the St. Johns River and the Atlantic coast off Jacksonville for more than a day, the Coast Guard suspended its search for Glen Sherridan of Richmond, Va.
The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office was investigating the missing person case, and the FBI's Jacksonville office said it was being kept informed of the progress of that investigation.
Sherridan's wife, Gloria, reported him missing after the Celebration docked in Jacksonville Thursday morning, said Petty Officer Bobby Nash. Sherridan was last seen by his wife about 1:30 a.m. Thursday.
The Coast Guard received a missing person report after the ship's crew conducted a ship search to make sure Sherridan wasn't still on board, Nash said.
The vessel's electronic exit and entry equipment showed the man did not leave the ship after it docked in Jacksonville, according to a release from Carnival. Mrs. Sherridan said her husband was an early riser and might have fallen overboard as early as 4 a.m., Nash said.
He said the ship then would have been about 13 miles off the northeast Florida coast, heading for the St. Johns River and Jacksonville.
Vance Gulliksen, a Carnival spokesman in Miami, said it was unusual for a passenger to be reported missing, but said he didn't have exact numbers. He said Carnival carries about 3-million passengers a year.
The Celebration, which can carry nearly 1,500 passengers, sailed back to the Bahamas with a fresh load of passengers later Thursday.