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Cadet fell off ship re-enacting movie scene

DENVER — An Air Force Academy cadet who plunged about 50 feet from a cruise ship balcony into the ocean with a female passenger thanked his rescuers Tuesday but didn’t discuss the details of what happened.

Ernesto Guzman, 22, and Celeste Clarice Partee, 20, fell from the balcony of Partee’s cabin on Princess Cruises’ Grand Princess about 150 miles off the coast of Galveston, Texas, on March 25.

KWGN-TV in Denver reported that the pair were re-enacting a famous scene from the movie “Titanic” when they fell. Guzman took off his clothes to stay afloat, the station reported.

Both were rescued by boats launched from the ship.

Guzman issued a statement through the academy thanking Princess Cruises and the U.S. Coast Guard.

“The combination of their quick response and my water survival training at the United States Air Force Academy combined to save my life during those five hours in the Gulf of Mexico,” said Guzman, a junior.

University of Colorado spokesman Bronson Hilliard confirmed the identity of Partee, a sophomore from Little Rock, Ark., but said he had no other information.

Princess Cruises has declined to discuss the incident.

“We have concluded that their going overboard was an accident, and we consider the matter closed,” the cruise line said in a March 26 statement.