A pre-Christmas family cruise turned to tragedy on Saturday when a woman died after trying to jump into the waters from one of the decks.
The unidentified 48 year old was onboard the Sky Princess when she is said to have jumped, Cruise Radio reports.
It was making its way back to Fort Lauderdale, Florida from an eight-day voyage to Cozumel, Mexico; Ocho Rios, Jamaica; George Town, Grand Cayman; and the cruise line’s private Bahamian resort, Princess Cays, at the time.
‘Princess Cruises is deeply saddened to confirm the passing of a 48-year-old female guest who attempted to jump overboard earlier today,’ the cruise line told the outlet.
‘The guest fell to a lower deck, where she was promptly rescued. Shipboard personnel immediately provided emergency medical care, but despite their best efforts, she could not be revived.
‘Our heartfelt condolences go out to the guest’s family and friends during this profoundly difficult time,’ the cruise line said, adding: ‘Grief support services are being offered to guests and crew members affected by this event.’
It is believed the victim was traveling with her family when she died.
An unidentified 48-year-old woman died after trying to jump from a cruise ship on Saturday
The 48 year old was onboard the Sky Princess, which was making its way back to Fort Lauderdale, Florida from an eight-day Caribbean voyage
News of the woman’s passing first spread on social media, with another passenger posting in a Facebook group that a ‘tragic incident’ occurred onboard the ship.
‘A medical situation was called around 3pm today. Around 6m, the captain announced that a female passenger had attempted to jump from the ship,’ the passenger wrote, according to Cruise blog.
‘Despite the crew’s best efforts, she succumbed to her injuries.’
Another woman shared a video to TikTok of the captain’s announcement about the passenger’s death. Â
‘We understand that this event may be distressing for many of you,’ the captain said, before alerting passengers that grief counseling services would be made available to them.
Others also shared their experiences on the Princess Cruise’s Reddit page.
‘My mom and cousin watched the whole thing,’ one user claimed. ‘They were directly below us two floors down. Nobody ever came to question them. They are very traumatized by it.
‘They said she hit everything on the way down and it was extremely disturbing. Someone held her by her arm for a couple seconds before she fell.
‘The rest of us didn’t see her actually fall, but saw her corpse laying there under the life boats,’ the Redditor claimed.Â
Cruise officials said the woman tried to jump and fell to a lower deck, where she was pronounced dead
Others, meanwhile, told how the shocking announcement affected the ship’s many activities.
‘I was in the Princess theater and the performance was stopped for the medical emergency,’ one person wrote.
‘It feels heavy to know this happened.’
Another said he was eating dinner when the captain made the announcement about the woman’s passing.
‘The whole dining room went silent and somber, and everyone stopped moving,’ he said, claiming it was ‘very chilling.’
A third Redditor also said they were at the 2.30 BINGO game when the call for medical help rang out.
‘Fortuna lady (the host) made a comment after we heard the announcement to the effect of “hopefully they’re OK” and continued on,’ the passenger recounted.
‘No one knew the gravity of the situation, so we were shocked to hear the captain’s announcement a few hours later.’Â Â
Passengers shared their experiences onboard the ship that day
One user also claimed to be a cousin of the victim.
‘I just want to say I appreciate everyone’s thoughts and concerns, and overall sensitivity to what happened,’ she wrote.
‘I won’t go into details as it was a very personal situation, but I will say she was really looking forward to this cruise, as it was especially important for her mother.
‘Thank you all again for being so kind and understanding, my aunt would also really appreciate that.’Â
