Missing cruise passenger from Ohio

Missing cruise passenger from Ohio

MIAMI - The U.S. Coast Guard launched a search Tuesday for a
21-year-old Ohio man with Mahoning Valley ties who was reported missing from
a cruise ship that had left Port Canaveral for the Bahamas.

Daniel Dipiero, of Augusta in northeast Ohio, was reported
missing about 11 a.m. Monday after his friends realized he had not slept in
the cabin they shared, Royal Caribbean International spokesman Michael
Sheehan said in a statement.

Dipiero's family left from their Canfield home Tuesday morning
to be closer to the search, Tribune Chronicle news partner 33 News reported.
The Coast Guard received the ''man overboard'' report around 7 p.m. that
night, Petty Officer Dana Warr said.

Poor weather delayed an aerial search until early Tuesday, when
a C-130 airplane took off to follow the cruise ship's path. A Coast Guard
cutter also was searching the area. A review of camera footage from Royal
Caribbean's Mariner of the Seas last showed Dipiero around 2:15 a.m. Monday
on the fourth deck, leaning on a rail near the front of the ship, Warr said.

Royal Caribbean waited roughly eight hours to alert the Coast
Guard because it first wanted to make sure the missing passenger was not on
board the 1,020-foot ship or on the company's private island, Coco Cay,
where the ship docked Monday, Sheehan said.

''It takes time to determine the person isn't on ship or on a
known location,'' he said.

The Bahamian Coast Guard was assisting in the sea and air
search, and the FBI was scheduled to board the ship in St. Thomas, U.S.
Virgin Islands, this morning, the company said.

Royal Caribbean said it was cooperating with authorities and was
providing counseling to Dipiero's family.

''Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends,''
company president Adam Goldstein, said Tuesday.

Royal Caribbean has been dealing with criticism since George
Allen Smith IV, 26, of Greenwich, Conn., disappeared after an apparent late
night of drinking aboard Royal Caribbean's Brilliance of the Seas last
summer. Blood stains were found on a canopy that covers life boats, but his
body was never found.

Smith's family has accused Royal Caribbean of covering up the
disappearance, an assertion the company denies. The FBI has been
investigating Smith's disappearance, but no one has been charged.

Miami-based Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. owns the cruise line.

On 5/17/06 1:01 AM Rick wrote:
Missing cruise passenger from Ohio

MIAMI - The U.S. Coast Guard launched a search Tuesday for a
21-year-old Ohio man with Mahoning Valley ties who was reported missing from
a cruise ship that had left Port Canaveral for the Bahamas.

Daniel Dipiero, of Augusta in northeast Ohio, was reported
missing about 11 a.m. Monday after his friends realized he had not slept in
the cabin they shared, Royal Caribbean International spokesman Michael
Sheehan said in a statement.

Dipiero's family left from their Canfield home Tuesday morning
to be closer to the search, Tribune Chronicle news partner 33 News reported.
The Coast Guard received the ''man overboard'' report around 7 p.m. that
night, Petty Officer Dana Warr said.

Poor weather delayed an aerial search until early Tuesday, when
a C-130 airplane took off to follow the cruise ship's path. A Coast Guard
cutter also was searching the area. A review of camera footage from Royal
Caribbean's Mariner of the Seas last showed Dipiero around 2:15 a.m. Monday
on the fourth deck, leaning on a rail near the front of the ship, Warr said.

Royal Caribbean waited roughly eight hours to alert the Coast
Guard because it first wanted to make sure the missing passenger was not on
board the 1,020-foot ship or on the company's private island, Coco Cay,
where the ship docked Monday, Sheehan said.

''It takes time to determine the person isn't on ship or on a
known location,'' he said.

The Bahamian Coast Guard was assisting in the sea and air
search, and the FBI was scheduled to board the ship in St. Thomas, U.S.
Virgin Islands, this morning, the company said.

Royal Caribbean said it was cooperating with authorities and was
providing counseling to Dipiero's family.

''Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends,''
company president Adam Goldstein, said Tuesday.

Royal Caribbean has been dealing with criticism since George
Allen Smith IV, 26, of Greenwich, Conn., disappeared after an apparent late
night of drinking aboard Royal Caribbean's Brilliance of the Seas last
summer. Blood stains were found on a canopy that covers life boats, but his
body was never found.

Smith's family has accused Royal Caribbean of covering up the
disappearance, an assertion the company denies. The FBI has been
investigating Smith's disappearance, but no one has been charged.

Miami-based Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. owns the cruise line.

Kind of gives RCCL's slogan "Get Out There" a whole new meaning.

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Brian M. Kochera
"Some mistakes are too much fun to only make once!"
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