Local graduates on same ship as overboard teen

O'Krepki, above, a recent graduate from St. Thomas Aquinas, was planning to attend Louisiana State University on an academic scholarship, according to national media reports made by his uncle Rick O'Krepki. Photo provided

O'Krepki was a classmate of 654 seniors from St. Thomas Aquinas, planning to attend Louisiana State University on an academic scholarship, according to national media reports made by his uncle Rick O'Krepki.

Senath-Hornersville class of 2009 graduate, Jena Payne, said that herself, McCall Latting, and Becca Hutchison were inside the theater of the cruise catching a show when the incident occurred.

"The Cruise Director came over the intercom and said, 'Bravo, Bravo, Starboard side,'" Payne said. "We didn't know what it meant."

Latting added that she and her friends remained in the show and didn't realize what happened until the program ended.

"He came back on the intercom and said, 'One of your fellow guests has fallen overboard,'" Latting said.

The three girls immediately went out side of the theater where everyone was looking over the sides of the ship, according to Payne.

"We went straight to our sponsors before they even had a chance to look for us," Latting said. "Everyone showed up and we said a prayer and split back up."

The Senath-Hornersville 2009 seniors on board totaled eight girls and eight boys.

Payne noted that a life boat, along with lots of spot lights, was being used to search for the missing guest. The search took the cruise two hours off of course, she added.

"Before everyone met, we had heard it was someone on a senior trip, but didn't know if it was one of our students," Payne said.

The search did not stop the activities on the boat, according to Payne, but stopped the boat's movement through the waters.

"Everyone was still able to take part in all activities, we just couldn't go out on the deck because it was roped off for the search," Payne said.

She noted that the crew searched for the guest for three hours and then turned the search over to the Coast Guard.

The overboard graduate was not the only action that the seniors witnessed during the cruise, according to Payne. On the first day aboard the ship, a man suffered a heart attack. As a result of the heart attack, the man was airlifted from the cruise. The group also witnessed another scary site, when a capsized sail boat was seen out in the ocean, according to Payne.

The Class of 2009 seniors attending the cruise returned to the Bootheel on Saturday, May 30, 2009.

The Coast guard ended its search for O'Krepki after using boats and aircraft to search an area of nearly 5,300 square miles, according to reports made by the Associated Press.

"After an exhaustive search effort to find Bruce O'Krepki, we have made the difficult decision to suspend our active search efforts," Capt. Drew Pearson said in a news release. "Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends during this difficult time."