SINGAPORE: A 12-year-old boy died after he plummeted from a balcony of a Texas-bound Royal Caribbean cruise ship onto the deck where the bars, restaurants and shops were located.
The child, who has yet to be identified, fell to his death on the night of Sept 7.
Witnesses told British tabloid The Sun the boy was playing with friends he had made on the trip when he went over the balcony of a cabin on Deck 14.
He landed on Deck 8, known as the “Central Park” area of the ship, Harmony of the Seas.
Crew members tried to resuscitate him, but the boy died before the ship docked in Galveston, Texas, at the end of a seven-day western Caribbean cruise.
Passenger Christa Schoolfield said on Facebook: “My family and I saw the incident unfold right before us as we were looking down into Central Park from the pool deck.”
The Sun reported that the boy was on the cruise with his family for a birthday celebration.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is investigating the incident, together with the US Coast Guard and Customs and Border Protection agency.
For now, it is not known what caused the child to fall over the railing.
Royal Caribbean confirmed the incident but did not provide more details.
“We are deeply saddened to confirm the death of one of our guests,” the company said in a statement.
“Our care team is providing support and assistance to the guest’s family during this difficult time. For the privacy of the guest and their family, we have no additional details to share.”
The 120,000-tonne Harmony of the Seas was the world’s largest cruise ship when it was launched in November 2016.
It is higher than a 25-storey building and longer than the height of the Eiffel Tower.
The vessel has 16 guest decks, 2,747 rooms and can carry nearly 5,500 guests.
It also has multiple-deck waterslides, a zip line and surf simulators.
The boy’s fall is not the first incident involving Harmony of the Seas.
In September 2016, before the ship’s launch, one crew member died and four others were injured when a lifeboat suddenly detached during a safety exercise.
In 2019, a 16-year-old fell to his death while attempting to climb into his room from a nearby balcony because he forgot his room key.
A year earlier, British entertainer Arron Hough went missing from the ship when it was 430km off Puerto Rico. A multi-day search for the 20-year-old failed to find any trace of him. - The Straits Times/ANN
