A woman on board a Virgin Voyages cruise liner tragically fell to her death from a balcony and landed on a fellow passenger on a deck below. The incident happened shortly after the ship departed from Miami ahead of schedule to Roatan in Honduras on Sunday evening.
The victim is thought to have been on the balcony before tumbling over the edge and hitting another passenger midfall, who remarkably came away unharmed. The woman received immediate medical attention but unfortunately died at the scene, the Mirror reports.
It's understood the ship returned to Miami after the horrific incident with locals officials investigating what caused the female passenger's fall. A statement from Virgin Voyages, released by TMZ read: "Yesterday evening shortly after departure there was a medical emergency involving one of our passengers.
"This passenger went over their balcony and onto a lower deck, and despite receiving immediate medical attention, has passed away. We are deeply saddened by this loss of life and our hearts and thoughts are with this person’s loved ones."
The tragedy comes less than a month after another woman was discovered dead on a Carnival Cruise ship. A FBI investigation was launched after the crew were informed that a passenger was found unresponsive onboard and medical staff rushed to help.
The cruise ship Carnival Sunshine had left from Charleston, South Carolina on February 27 and was heading towards the Bahamas. After failed attempts to resuscitate the woman, she was pronounced dead and her body was taken from the ship three days later when the cruise arrived in Nassau.
When the ship later returned to Charleston on March 4, an FBI team of investigators boarded the cruise and examined the woman's room which she had been sharing with her husband, a statement from the operator said. Carnival said it was also co-operating with local authorities in a statement which said: "The FBI joined Carnival Sunshine upon its return to Charleston yesterday morning to conduct an investigation into the death of a guest.
"Both the deceased and her husband were debarked in Nassau and Bahamian authorities have already investigated the circumstances and are conducting an autopsy. We are fully cooperating.
"This is a matter for authorities in The Bahamas and Charleston and we have no further comments."
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