Search for overboard teen suspended

TAMPA, Fla., May 27 (UPI) -- The search for a Louisiana teenager who fell off a cruise ship in the Gulf of Mexico has been suspended, the U.S. Coast Guard announced.

The Coast Guard says after searching an area of nearly 5,300 miles no trace of Bruce O'Krepki, 18, of Hammond, La., has been found, CNN reported Wednesday.

The teenager fell overboard from the cruise ship Carnival Fantasy about 150 miles southwest of Tampa, Fla. Sunday night.

Search planes and a rescue helicopter aided in the effort to find O'Krepki along with a Coast Guard cutter that was diverted from St. Petersburg, Fla.

"After an exhaustive search effort to find Bruce O'Krepki, we have made the difficult decision to suspend our active search efforts," said Capt. Drew Pearson, chief of search and rescue for the Coast Guard's Seventh District.