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Feds: Worker sexually abused woman on cruise ship

A cruise line employee was arrested for allegedly sexually abusing a woman during a voyage when the ship docked in New Jersey over the weekend.

The U.S. Attorney's Office for New Jersey said 25-year-old Karan Seechurn was taken into custody when the ship, which had traveled from Bayonne, N.J., to the Bahamas, returned to New Jersey on Saturday.

Seechurn worked for the unidentified cruise line and was responsible for re-stocking minibars in passengers' rooms, giving him access to keys to travelers' rooms.

On Dec. 23, the Mauritius man entered a sleeping woman's room and touched her inappropriately, prosecutors said. When the woman pushed Seechurn off her tried to leave the room, he "threatened to burn down the cruise ship if she told anyone," according to court documents.

Seechurn is being charged with abusive sexual contact.

His arrest comes days after prosecutors asked for a lengthy prison sentence in another attack on a passenger by a cruise ship employee.

Ketut Pujayasa, 29, is scheduled to be sentenced next month for sexually assaulting and trying to kill a sleeping woman after letting himself into her room using his master key.

He has pleaded guilty to attempted murder and aggravated sexual assault charges. Prosecutors are seeking a sentence of 24 years and four months to 30 years and five months for the February attack on board Holland America's MS Nieuw Amsterdam.

Pujayasa had been working as a room service attendant on the cruise, which departed from Port Everglades in Florida.