Search for missing Alaska Cruise Ship Passenger

The Coast Guard has launched a massive search in frigid Alaska waters for a passenger of a cruise ship who is believed to have fallen overboard.

The Coast Guard says the 45-year-old woman was reported missing by a friend at 10 a.m. Monday when the Holland America ship Zaandam was in Glacier Bay National Park about 75 miles northwest of Juneau.

The woman was last seen after she ordered room service about midnight, when the vessel was near Douglas Island.

Coast Guard spokesman Paul Webb says the search is focusing in the glacier fed waters between the two points, which are 80 miles apart.

The waters in the area are 57 degrees.

Taking part in the search are Coast Guard aircraft and cutters as well as civil air patrol pilots.

This is so sad.

A woman's body was found Monday afternoon during a massive search for a cruise ship passenger who was believed to have fallen overboard into frigid Alaska waters.

The Coast Guard said the search for the missing passenger is continuing until the body is positively identified.

The 45-year-old woman was reported missing by a friend Monday morning when the Holland America ship Zaandam was in Glacier Bay National Park about 75 miles northwest of Juneau.

She was last seen hours earlier after she ordered room service, when the vessel was near Douglas Island. Her name and hometown were not immediately released, but the Coast Guard said she is from Washington state.

The crew of a commercial helicopter operated by Ketchikan-based TEMSCO Helicopters that was helping in the search found the body at about 4:30 p.m. on the west side of Douglas Island. That's about 12 miles northwest of where the passenger was last seen, Chief Petty Officer Dana Warr said.

The seven-day cruise left Seattle on Friday.