Coast Guard search for cruise passenger overboard near Hawaii

A female cruise passenger is missing after falling overboard into the sea off Hawaii.

Coastguard officials sent a rescue plane to waters northeast of Hawaii on Wednesday afternoon after being alerted by crew members.

According to CBC News, Princess Cruises spokeswoman Julie Benson said witnesses and security video confirmed the 54-year-old American passenger was "intentionally going overboard".

The 1,300-cabin Grand Princess cruise ship was three days into a 15-day roundtrip cruise to Hawaii from San Francisco, reports CNN.

The woman went overboard about 750 miles north east of Hilo, off Hawaii's Big Island.

The crew turned the ship around in a bid to search for the woman, whose name is being withheld pending notification of her family, reports the Global Post.

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