SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico--A toddler has died after “being dropped” from the eleventh floor of a Royal Caribbean cruise ship. The nineteen-month-old, from Indiana, plunged 150 feet to the dock in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Sunday afternoon.
Her grandfather is believed to have slipped while holding her, and dropped her from a window on the Freedom of the Seas. “I looked because of the mother’s cry,” another passenger told Telemundo PR. “That tonality, a scream of pain of that nature, does not compare with any other scream.” The newspaper said police were investigating the circumstances of the death. Elmer Román of the Department of Public Security told Primera Hora that the family had not been interviewed. He told the paper it was a “sad and tragic scene” and that one of the grandparents had lifted the girl to the window as part of a “game”.
A Royal Caribbean spokesperson said: “We are deeply saddened by yesterday’s [Sunday’s – Ed.] tragic incident and our hearts go out to the family. We’ve made our Care Team available to assist the family with any resources they need. Out of respect for their privacy, we do not plan to comment further on the incident.” They had said earlier: “We are assisting local authorities in San Juan, Puerto Rico, as they make inquiries after an incident aboard Freedom of the Seas earlier today [Sunday].” Freedom of the Seas, which can accommodate nearly 5,000 people, was ending a week-long Caribbean cruise taking in Antigua, St. Lucia and Barbados at the time. ~ Metro News ~
