2 Carnival Cruise Passengers Have Gone Missing In Australia

Police in Australia are hopeful that two missing passengers, who are believed to have fallen from the deck of a cruise ship, are still alive.

Authorities are conducting an air and marine search off Australia' s east coast after two cruise passengers were discovered missing when their ship docked in Sydney Harbour at the end of a 10-day journey.

The 30-year-old man and 27-year-old woman were found to be missing after the Carnival Spirit docked at Sydney's Circular Quay this morning, said New South Wales State Police Superintendent Mark Hutchings.

The missing passengers - a couple from New South Wales - were believed to have fallen from the ship's mid-deck on Wednesday night.

"From the information that we received, we believe it's been now well over 13-14 hours that those two people have been in the water," he said.

"But as far as I'm concerned, as the commander, we are searching for them in the hope that we will find them alive out to sea."

A spokeswoman for the Australian Maritime Safety Authority, which is coordinating the search, said an airplane and helicopter plus police boats were searching a thousand-square-kilometre (300-square-nautical mile) area of sea north of Sydney.

Carnival Cruise Lines is a subsidiary of Miami-based Carnival Corp, the world's largest cruise operator.