HOUSTON -- A Texan who survived a pipe beating and sodomy and later testified before Congress in support of a hate crimes bill died after jumping from a cruise ship into the Gulf of Mexico.

His father has identified the victim as 18-year-old David Ritcheson.

Officials with Carnival Cruise Lines said the teen jumped from aboard the Ecstasy, a 70,000-ton cruise ship that sailed out of Galveston on Saturday for a five-day round-trip cruise to Cozumel, Mexico, according to Houston TV station KPRC.

Vance Gulliksen, a spokesman for the cruise line, said in a statement that "an 18-year-old male passenger was seen jumping overboard from one of the ship's upper decks" about 7:35 a.m. Officials aboard the Ecstasy initiated a search and notified the U.S. Coast Guard.

Gulliksen said the teen was recovered by the crew about a half-hour later and brought on board, where he was pronounced dead.

Ritcheson -- who's Hispanic -- nearly died in April of 2006 at a party in Spring when he was beaten, stomped, burned with cigarettes and sodomized with a plastic pole.

His attackers, who shouted "White Power!" during the assault, poured bleach on him and left him for dead, witnesses said. Ritcheson required 30 surgeries after the attack.

Two people were later convicted. Robert Keith Turner was sentenced to 90 years in prison for the assault. David Henry Tuck was sentenced to life in prison.

Officials said the attack happened after Ritcheson tried to kiss a 12-year-old white girl.

Ritcheson lamented being known as "that kid" who survived the party attack. He rarely discussed his feelings and declined to get counseling, according to Mike Trent, the prosecutor who handled Ritcheson's case.

Although he remembered nothing of the four-hour attack, Ritcheson testfied about it during congressional hearings in April on a hate-crimes bill. That bill passed the House of Representatives and is now pending in a Senate committee.

U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, who met with Ritcheson and his family before his testimony, said she hopes to have the bill formally named "David's Bill" in honor of Ritcheson.

The Ecstasy, which holds 2,052 passengers, is expected to arrive in Cozumel Monday morning. It is scheduled to return to Galveston on Thursday.