(CNN) --
In a remarkable act of service and good fortune, a passenger who was reported missing while aboard the Carnival Valor cruise ship in the Gulf of Mexico was found in the water and rescued Thursday, the Coast Guard said. from USA
At the time of the rescue, the missing passenger was responding and transferred to waiting emergency medical personnel at New Orleans' Lakefront Airport, Coast Guard Petty Officer Ryan Graves told CNN on Thursday.
The man was last seen by his sister at a bar aboard the Carnival Cruise Line ship Wednesday night, according to a statement CNN obtained from Carnival spokesman Matt Lupoli.
The sister said the man left the bar around 11 pm to use the bathroom and never returned to her cabin.
A cruise ship passenger died after being attacked by a shark while scuba diving with her family in the Bahamas
She reported him missing Thursday at noon, according to the statement.
"Carnival Valor retraced its route to support search and rescue," Lupoli said, and the ship has since been released by the Coast Guard and is sailing again for Cozumel, Mexico.
The Carnival Valor had left the port of New Orleans on Wednesday.
Receiving a call from the cruise ship around 2:30 p.m. Thursday, the Coast Guard launched a search effort with multiple air and sea crews, Coast Guard Lt. Phillip VanderWeit said in a statement.
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After the man was seen by crew from another vessel, crew members from an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter "loaded the man onto the helicopter," VanderWeit said.
Mike Anderson, a Carnival Valor passenger, told CNN he saw staff members searching for the passenger on Thursday.
Anderson said she began hearing announcements for the missing passenger to check in with guest services, and "noted security beginning to search the ship with a picture of the missing (passenger) on their phones."
No official announcement was made at the time informing people on the ship what had happened, he said.
Around 2 p.m., the boat turned around to head back, Anderson said.
The passengers were told their arrival time at their port of call, Cozumel, would be delayed, he said.
Later Thursday night, a public address announcement informed guests that there had been a man overboard incident, but the ship had been released from the search and was resuming the voyage to Cozumel.
CNN's Dave Alsup, Amanda Jackson and Jose Lesh contributed to this report.
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