According to reports,an American toddler has died in Puerto Rico after falling eleven stories from a Royal Caribbean cruise ship.The girl was on vacation with her parents, two siblings and two sets of grandparents aboard the Freedom of the Seas owned by Royal Caribbean, which docked in Puerto Rico on Sunday after a week long trip through the Caribbean. The death occurred Sunday afternoon at the Panamerican dock in the capital of San Juan.
The 18-month old girl from Indiana was playing with her grandfather in a dining hall on deck 11 of the ship and being held up to an open window by her grandfather when he lost his grip on the child and the girl fell to her death. “Sadly, she died on impact,” Port Authority spokesman José Carmona said .
The toddler’s father is a police officer in South Bend, Indiana, according to the South Bend Police Department.
,Secretary of public safety for the government of Puerto Rico Elmer Román, told the newspaper that the incident is being investigated as a homicide.
“The incident involved an American family — the grandfather stuck the girl out of a window, the girl fell over the edge and died,” he said. “Right now (the Homicide Division) is on the scene; it wasn’t possible to interview the family. It’s a very shocking scene, very unfortunate and tragic… it looks like one of her grandparents, it would seem, in the midst of playing, exposed the girl to the drop and she fell from his arms.”
A Royal Caribbean spokesperson confirmed the happening, and said the company made resources available to the family following the “tragic” event.
The “Freedom of the Seas” is the 14th largest cruise ship in the world and can hold 4,500 passengers and crew and is more than 1.000 feet long.
An investigation is ongoing.
