Yesterday, the US Coast Guard rescued an unidentified passenger who had gone overboard in the Gulf of  Mexico from the cruise ship Carnival Valor on a voyage from New Orleans to Cozumel.  While most cases of passengers who fall or jump overboard from cruise ships end in tragedy, one Coast Guard officer referred to this rescue as a “Thanksgiving miracle.” Until more facts emerge, it certainly qualifies as a Thanksgiving mystery.

Shortly after the Carnival Valor sailed from New Orleans on Thanksgiving eve, a man and his sister were drinking at a shipboard bar. At around 11 PM the man left to find a restroom and did not return. 

The next day, his sister could not find him and notified cruise ship personnel that he was missing at around noon. After searching the ship, the US Coast Guard was notified that there was a man overboard at 2:30 PM. The ship reversed course to retrace its route. 

CNN reports that soon, a multi-crew search for the man — by air and by sea — was underway.  

An alert went out to all mariners in the gulf, and the Coast Guard “launched all available resources,” Lt. Seth Gross, a search and rescue coordinator for the USCG told CNN on Friday morning.

That included a small boat from Venice, Florida, a helicopter based in New Orleans and airplanes from Clearwater, Florida, and Mobile, Alabama, he said.

The search extended more than 200 miles in the gulf, Gross said, adding the water temperature there Thursday night was just above 70 degrees — and somewhat colder in the Mississippi River.

At some point,  on Thanksgiving afternoon or evening, reports are that a vessel spotted the man.  

A Coast Guard MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter aircrew out of New Orleans headed to the spot — and “hoisted the man onto the helicopter,” Coast Guard Lt. Phillip VanderWeit said.

And he was responsive, USCG Petty Officer Ryan Graves said.

Rescuers haven’t been able to determine how long he was in the water, Gross told “CNN This Morning” — but it could have been more than 15 hours.

If it was that long, it’s “the absolute longest that I’ve heard about — and just one of those Thanksgiving miracles,” he said.

In his 17-year career, “this case is unlike anything I’ve been a part of,” Gross said. “I think it kind of blows the norm, the normalcy, out of the water here, and really just shows the will to live is something that you need to account for in every search-and-rescue case.”