NORFOLK, VA. (AP) – A sailor returning from the war in Iraq fell from his ship into the Atlantic Ocean about 900 miles off the Virginia coast and was presumed dead, military officials said Sunday.

Petty Officer 3rd Class Dwayne Williams, 23, of Philadelphia, was chasing a football on the deck of the amphibious assault ship USS Nassau when he tripped and fell overboard Friday, the ship’s captain said.

Commander Ernest Duplessis, a spokesman for the Navy’s Second Fleet, confirmed Sunday that the Navy had ended its search and that Williams’ body had not been recovered.

Capt. Russell Tjepkema of the Nassau said Williams was wearing coveralls and boots, which would have weighed him down, and did not have a lifejacket when he fell. He said the crew threw Williams a float and sent a rescue boat within five minutes. Rescuers found the float and searched for Williams for nine hours until it became too dark to continue, he said.

“My mind tells me this is the right thing to do, but my heart tells me to go back and look for the guy,” Tjepkema told a CNN crew that was aboard the ship to cover its return to Norfolk.

Williams, who had been in the Navy for nearly four years, pumped gas and took care of fuel stations on the ship, the captain said. The Nassau had been deployed for nine months.

“Dwayne Williams was an absolutely fine sailor,” Tjepkema said. “He was cheerful, good-humored and he talked about his wife and his mom and his grandma a lot.”

Duplessis said there were 8- to 10-foot seas, and the water temperature was approximately 64 degrees. He estimated that a person could survive for about 3 hours in those conditions.

The Nassau is scheduled to drop off the 24th Marine Expeditionary Force in North Carolina and return to Norfolk on Thursday, Duplessis said.

AP-ES-05-25-03 0952EDT