At around 3.30am on Saturday morning, passengers of the Carnival Miracle cruise ship were awoken to an alert that someone had fallen overboard.
Passengers were in the midst of a three-day voyage from the Long Beach Cruise Terminal to Ensenada.
“Someone has lost their life, whether it was done by accident or by foul play I don’t know,” said Daniel Miranda, a Northern California firefighter paramedic on board the ship, according to CBS Los Angeles.
“There’s some high suspicion of foul play.”
The outlet states that many passengers are also concerned the incident occurred from foul play, after the woman fell from the fifth-floor balcony of her stateroom.
There are 12 decks on the Carnival Miracle cruise ship.
“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 added.
After over 31 hours of searching, the Coast Guard halted their efforts on Sunday.
“They did their best efforts to get crews out on little boats and rescue and start a search,” said Miranda.
Following the incident on Saturday morning, Carnival issued a statement.
“We advised Carnival Miracle guests this morning of an overboard incident involving one of our guests from the balcony of her stateroom,” they wrote.
“Our thoughts are with the guest and her family, and our care team is providing support.”
With a guest capacity of 2,100 people, Miranda estimated around 1,100 were on board the cruise ship at the time of the incident.
The United States Coast Guard has been assisted in their search by the Mexican Navy.