Mexican authorities are searching for a 39-year-old man who was seen jumping off a Carnival cruise ship near Cozumel.
Carnival officials said Clint Wayne Markham reportedly jumped off the Conquest ship Friday night.
"I was walking up from deck 8 to 9 to get a soda, and I could hear this awful screaming from one of the passengers on my floor," said Jonathan Wang of Sugarland. "She just yelled overboard! A boy's overboard! And there was tons of confusion."
The ship returned to the location where Markham was last seen and began searching for him.
"The boat made a series of maneuvers and we immediately saw a few other boats in the area, smaller boats that we could only assume were helping in the search" said Wang.
According to a statement from the cruise line, Mexican authorities searched the ship and then allowed it to continue on its scheduled trip.
The Conquest sails from Galveston every Sunday on seven-day cruises. It had already stopped in Grand Cayman and Jamaica. Cozumel was its final stop.
The ship returned to its home port of Galveston, Texas, on Sunday after a seven-day cruise.
Markham had been married to his wife, Michelle, for 20 years and leaves behind two teenage children. Though officials say Markham jumped, family members and neighbors are adament that it was an accidental fall.
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Cruise officials said they are working with the man's family to provide support.
