UPDATE: Man missing from B.C.-bound cruise found unresponsive, declared dead in hospital

CAPE FLATTERY, Wash. – A man who went overboard from a Victoria-bound cruise ship has been recovered in waters off southwest Vancouver Island and pronounced dead in hospital.

The United States Coast Guard says a helicopter rescue crew found the man unresponsive in the water near the Strait of Juan de Fuca on Tuesday afternoon.

He was transferred to local emergency medical personnel waiting on shore and then to a medical centre where he was declared dead.

The Seven Seas Mariner cruise ship had reported a 73-year-old man went overboard at about 4:30 a.m. Tuesday.

A U.S. Coast Guard aircrew, multiple boat crews and a Canadian Coast Guard helicopter crew searched the area before locating and recovering the man.

The cause of the incident is currently under investigation.

"We offer our deepest condolences to the family and friends of the victim who were affected by this tragedy," said Capt. M.M. Balding, Sector Puget Sound Commanding Officer, in a news release.

"Any time we are unable to accomplish our goal of saving lives, we are deeply saddened. Our thoughts are with them in their time of grief."

At the time the man went overboard, the vessel was in U.S. waters, just north of Cape Flattery, at the northwestern tip of Washington state's Olympic Peninsula.

The 700-passenger cruise ship was heading to Victoria on the 10th day of an 11-day Alaska cruise that began in Vancouver on June 30.