Recent graduate goes overboard from cruise ship

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — The Coast Guard is searching for a man believed to have gone overboard from a cruise ship in the Gulf of Mexico.

The Coast Guard says 18-year-old Bruce O'Krepki reportedly went overboard from the Carnival Fantasy at about 9:45 p.m. Sunday, about 150 miles southwest of Tampa.

O'Krepki is from Hammond, La., where The Daily Star newspaper reported Monday that he was a recent graduate of St. Thomas Aquinas High School. He was with about 35 classmates on the ship.

A search plane, helicopter and Coast Guard cutter were sent out to search.

The ship had left New Orleans and was en route to Key West.

Tags: Cruise Overboard Graduate