Coast Guard Searching Gulf of Mexico for Teen Who Fell from Cruise Ship

Bruce O'Krepki fell from of a Carnival cruise ship on Monday about 150 miles southwest of Tampa, Florida. The 18-year-old and about 35 of his classmates were on the cruise celebrating their graduation from high school in Louisiana. The ship was cruising from New Orleans to Key West and it was during the trip that O'Krepki fell from the ship. The Coast Guard was alerted and a search took place that involved the cruise ship for several hours. Eventually, the ship was instructed to continue on to Key West, where it was scheduled to arrive at 1PM yesterday.

There have been no details released at this point explaining how the young man fell from the boat or if anyone was with him when that event took place. The only information released at this point is that O'Krepki fell from the 10th deck of the ship.

O'Krepki's parents were chaperones on the trip and they are still believed to be on the boat at this time. Prayer vigils have been held in the town of Hammond, LA and in the community where the O'Krepki's live.

It seems that the number of cruise ship passengers to fall overboard has increased significantly in recent years. It's difficult to imagine that the shipping industry should do much to increase the safety of their ships, as the vast majority of passengers never have any problems staying on board.