Grandma Overboard From Carnival Cruise
The Coast Guard has been searching the Gulf of Mexico for an Alabama woman who reportedly went overboard from a cruise ship.
The Coast Guard says Michelle Vilborg was reported overboard by the Carnival Holiday just after midnight Tuesday. The ship was about 75 miles southwest of Pensacola, Fla., at the time.
CBS News correspondent Susan Roberts reported on The Early Show Wednesday that Vilborg was traveling to celebrate her 50th birthday, on her first trip to the Caribbean with her husband.
Vilborg's son, Erik Vilborg, told CBS News Vilborg's husband woke up to find his wife gone and alarms going off on the ship.
"The first thing that comes into his head was, 'Man, was it her?"' Erik Vilborg said.
Carnival Corp. says a passenger reported hearing a splash, and that prompted a cabin-by-cabin search. Crew members also lowered lifeboats to look for the woman, but found nothing.
The Holiday is carrying more than 1,400 passengers. It's due back in Mobile, Ala. on Saturday after a five-day trip to the Yucatan Peninsula.
Vilborg's disappearance appears to mark at least the third time in less than a month that a passenger went overboard from a Carnival ship based on the Gulf Coast.
"Evidence (of possible foul play) is always hard to find in these situations," travel industry expert Peter Greenburg said on The Early Show Wednesday. "There is no central repository for data, although there is a bill pending in Congress to create such a system. You know what? A number of cruise ships have 1,100 cameras going 24 hours a day. They can put together a time-coded frame of her movements. That will give them a good start."
But Greenburg said Carnival claims it's "almost impossible" to fall off a cruise ship balcony because the railings are 44 inches high.
"So if somebody falls off," he said, "usually, alcohol is involved or they're dedicated to the act."
Co-anchor Maggie Rodriguez remarked that cruise ships' isolation would seem to make them relatively easy places to commit crimes. But Greenbnerg said, with new ships, such as The Oasis of the Seas, that will feature forward and rear-facing cameras, investigators will be more equipped to put together a timeline of who comes and goes on these vessels.