Woman Falls Overboard on Carnival Cruise, Passenger Says 'High Suspicion of Foul Play'

Coast Guard crews are searching for a woman who fell overboard from a Carnival cruise ship, in a case in which one paramedic aboard has suggested there is "high suspicion of foul play."

The woman fell from the Carnival Miracle cruise ship near Ensenada, Mexico, early on Saturday morning.

Passengers had enjoyed their journey, which began at Long Beach Cruise Terminal on Thursday and had been sailing toward Ensenada as part of a three-day voyage.

But passengers were awoken at about 3:30 a.m. on Saturday following an alert that a woman had fallen overboard.

The woman is believed to have fallen from the fifth-floor balcony of her stateroom and passengers are concerned foul play could be involved, according to the network.

Daniel Miranda, a Northern California firefighter paramedic onboard the vessel, told CBS Los Angeles: "Someone has lost their life, whether it was done by accident or by foul play I don't know - there's some high suspicion of foul play.

"A lot of people are concerned because that's somebody's life, and that's a high likelihood that this person will not be found alive."

Miranda told reporters he had assisted crews with their search for the woman on Saturday morning.

He added: "They immediately did their best efforts to get crews out on the little boats and rescue, to start a search.

"They had crew literally around the deck to look all the way around the ship to be able to see if somebody was out in the water. They had lights out in the water trying to flash out there, but again it's pretty dark."

The identity of the woman has not been released as of Sunday morning.

Video footage, seen by Newsweek and shared on Facebook by a person claiming to be a passenger on board, showed a rescue team searching the waters close to the vessel in a bid to find the woman.

In a statement issued on Saturday morning, Carnival Cruise Line told CBS: "We advised Carnival Miracle guests this morning of an overboard incident involving one of our guests from the balcony of her stateroom…Our thoughts are with the guest and her family and our care team is providing support."

Newsweek has contacted the U.S. Coast Guard and Carnival Cruise Line for comment.

According to the Carnival Cruise Line website, the Carnival Miracle has a guest capacity of 21,24 and has an estimated 934 crew onboard.