A search-and-rescue operation was launched Thursday night in Puget Sound after a passenger aboard a ferry on the Bainbridge Island-Seattle route reported seeing a body in the water.

The 7:10 p.m. departure from Bainbridge Island was delayed as the crew of the MV Wenatchee assisted the Coast Guard in searching for the body.

A helicopter and a Coast Guard vessel scoured the waters off the coast of downtown Seattle and searched through the evening for a person in the water, but no body was found, said Coast Guard Petty Officer 3rd Class Nate Littlejohn.

“At approximately 6:40 last night a passenger aboard the ferry reported seeing a body in the water,” Littlejohn said.

The ferry stopped and began searching, and the Coast Guard was notified by the ferry crew, he said.

“There were various other agencies involved in the search, and a lot of good Samaritans in the area searched as well,” he said.

The search came up empty and was called off about 9 p.m.

Littlejohn said no one actually saw someone go overboard.

“To the best of our knowledge, no one has been reported missing and no one was reported overboard,” he said.

The incident caused delays through the night on the Bainbridge-Seattle ferry route.

The 8:10 p.m. departure from Seattle and the 8:55 p.m. departure from Bainbridge were both delayed.