Jill Begora, the Canadian woman who went missing from a cruise ship near the Bahamas on Saturday and still hasn't been found, has been identified as a resident of Victoria, B.C.

When the story first broke, officials believed Begora was from Ontario, but have now revealed she had recently retired to Victoria with her husband Dennis Begora.

Fran Cooperman-Pfaff, a Victoria resident and Begora's best friend, was shaken by what seems more and more certain to be her friend's death.

"I'm feeling devastated and incredibly sad that this woman is just not going to be here anymore," said Cooperman-Pfaff.

Begora went missing on the last night of an eight night Caribbean Cruise Lines vacation. Her husband Dennis Begora, formerly a dentist in St. Catharines, Ontario, last saw her at about 9 a.m. on Saturday. He reported her missing when the ship arrived in port at the Bahamian capital, Nassau at about 1 p.m.

The ship had come from Antigua, an eastern Caribbean island, and officials believe Begora may have gone overboard in the Bahamas.

Recently the family of a man who may have been murdered on a cruise filed a lawsuit against the Caribbean Cruise Lines. But Cooperman-Pfaff doesn't suspect foul play is involved in her friend's disappearance. She said Begora suffered from a lifetime of depression.

"There's something very mesmerizing about the water and you just wonder if someone who is going through a difficult time would just go over," said Cooperman-Pfaff, but added that the uncertainty surrounding her friend's disappearance is the hardest part for her to deal with.

"Not knowing what happened is the most difficult part of it," Cooperman-Pfaff said. "If we could find out more details we could be a lot more settled."

Her family were also caught off guard by her disappearance and the mystery surrounding it.

"I've talked to my other cousins and so forth, adn they don't know anything more. They're just kind of shocked and our prayers and hopes are with the family now that everything will come out OK," Larry Begora, a cousin, said.

After her husband reported her missing, officials searched the ship. When no sign of Begora was found, a missing persons report was filed with the U.S. Coast Guard.

"They did a full ship search and there was no evidence that she had left the ship in Nassau," U.S. Coast Guard spokesman Dana Warr, explaining why authorities believe she may have fallen overboard.

On Sunday, a coast guard C-130 plane searched an area north of Nassau where the ship had been when Begora was first reported missing -- but they found nothing.

Finding someone in the ocean is, "one of the hardest things the Coast Guard has to do,'' Warr told The Associated Press, explaining that the area searched covered thousands of square miles.

The coast guard carried out an onboard investigation Sunday, after the ship arrived at Fort Lauderdale's Everglades port early that morning. They since handed their findings over to the Federal Bureau of Investigations.

In its first public comment on the disappearance, Royal Caribbean said in a statement released Monday:

"Upon departing Nassau Saturday, Jewel of the Seas retraced its course into that port, searching for the woman. (It) was assisted in the search by two other cruise ships in the area," the statement said.

"Royal Caribbean is providing assistance to the husband and is fully co-operating with the investigating agencies. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family during this difficult time."

Canadian Deputy High Commissioner Bryan Burton, who confirmed the woman's identity based on the ship's manifest, told The Canadian Press by phone from Kingston, Jamaica, that no new information on Begora's fate had turned up by late Monday morning.

Foreign Affairs spokesperson Marie-Christine Lilkoff added that the Canadian government is in contact with Begora's family, and consular officials are providing assistance from Miami.

The Jewel of the Seas is one of the Florida-based cruise company's newer ships, with a capacity of 2,100 guests.