US Coast Guard suspend search for missing cruise passenger

The US Coast Guard have announced the search off the coast of Texas for a woman who appears to have fallen overboard on a Carnival cruise ship has been suspended.

On Friday, 33-year-old Samantha Broberg was reported missing on the Carnival Liberty during a cruise to Mexico. Carnival says it did a shipwide search and looked at camera footage.

According to a statement from the Coast Guard, a video revealed Broberg 'falling overboard around 2 am.'

A Coast Guard official originally told CNN that they were focusing on Broberg's rescue, not the details of how she might have gone overboard.

An updated report from CNN states that Broberg is understood to have fallen from the tenth deck of the ship in the early hours.

Footage which captured the fall appears to show the traveller sitting on the railings before she fell backwards.

Andy Kendrick, Coast Guard Petty Officer, told CNN: "The search area is so offshore, almost 200 miles southeast of Galveston, so it's way out there and very difficult to get to and get any resources out to it."

ABC 13 published a statement from the woman's family which reads: "We are shocked and deeply saddened by the incident that occurred on the Carnival Cruise Ship. We hope and pray the US Coast Guard is able to bring Samantha home. We ask for privacy as our family comes together during this difficult time."

A statement from the Coast Guard confirms crews searched for 20 hours, covering 4,300 square miles before it was suspended.