MIAMI -- Carnival Cruise Lines issued a statement Thursday saying there did not appear to be any foul play involved in an employee's overnight fall from a cruise ship.

The company said that six fellow crembers saw the man fall while the Carnival Sensation was at sea east of Vero Beach.

"The eyewitness accounts indicate that this was clearly an accidental overboard," the statement said.

The U.S. Coast Guard continued search for the man on Thursday afternoon.

The man's co-workers reported the incident to ship officials around 12:50 a.m. Cruise ship personnel immediately contacted the Coast Guard for assistance.

Coast Guard search and rescue coordinators launched a jet crew, two helicopter crews and a boat crew from Station Fort Pierce. Two 87-foot patrol boats also were sent to search for the missing employee.

The Coast Guard released the ship at about 6 a.m. Thursday, Carnival said. The Sensation arrived in its homeport of Port Canaveral at about 9:30 a.m.

The company said the Sensation was returning from a four-day Bahamas cruise that departed Port Canaveral on Dec. 28.

Carnival Corp., the world's largest cruise operator, is based in Miami. The Carnival Sensation makes three and four-day cruises to the Bahamas out of Port Canaveral on the east coast of central Florida.