By T. D. Thornton
The United States Coast Guard has called off Gulf of Mexico search-and-rescue efforts for Samantha Broberg, the wife of the nation's winningest Thoroughbred trainer, Karl Broberg.
Samantha, 33, was reported missing at sea from a Texas-to-Mexico cruise ship on Friday afternoon. A subsequent check of surveillance video revealed a woman falling overboard from the tenth deck of the Carnival Cruise Line's Liberty after having climbed atop the top rung of the safety railing to sit with her back to the water around 2:00 a.m.
The intense search-and-rescue attempts that ensued were hampered by a 15-hour lag between when the woman on the video was recorded toppling over the railing and when the Coast Guard was first alerted.
Karl, 45, was not on the ship with his wife. The excursion was a four-day cruise to Cozumel for Samantha and several friends.
The cruise ship left Galveston on Thursday. Samantha's companions did not realize she was unaccounted for until about noon on Friday. When she was first reported missing, the ship's crew concentrated on a room-by-room search of the vessel.
Once a review of video footage determined they were instead dealing with a person falling off the ship, the crew was able to calculate the exact position of where the liner was when Samantha is believed to have gone over, and the Coast Guard responded with a “saturated” air search about 200 miles off the coast of Galveston.
Initially, there were shreds of hope that Samantha might be found alive. Assuming she survived the ten-story fall, the waters in that area are considered warm enough that hypothermia would not have immediately set in.
But after nearly 48 hours and an exhaustive criss-cross search of 4,300 square miles of ocean, the search was halted when darkness descended on Sunday night.
KHOU-TV in Houston covered the Liberty's docking back in Galveston at 7:00 a.m. Monday, and yellow crime scene tape could be seen restricting access to the tenth deck. The station said the Federal Bureau of Investigation would be taking up an inquiry, which was reported as “standard procedure” when a U.S. citizen goes missing at sea.
A Carnival spokesperson told KHOU that several people who may have had contact with Samantha had been interviewed, but that “no foul play” is suspected.
“This is a tremendously sad event. I do want to mention that sitting on a cruise ship railing is akin to sitting on the balcony railing of a high-rise hotel. It is risky and dangerous and against our rules,” the Carnival spokesperson told People magazine.
The website CruiseLawNews, which is published by maritime attorney Jim Walker, was critical of Carnival for not having a “man overboard” (MOB) system installed, which would have immediately alerted the crew if motion sensors detected someone or something falling over the side of the ship.
Samantha, of Arlington, is being remembered as a stay-at-home mother of four children.
Karl is currently the leading U.S. trainer in terms of wins this year (129). At this time of year, his stable competes at Prairie Meadows, Evangeline Downs, Louisiana Downs, and Lone Star Park.
The Broberg family released a statement over the weekend expressing sorrow and requesting privacy.
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