Authorities are investigating the death of a passenger who fell from a balcony to a deck while on a cruise ship on Sunday.
via People:
The passenger, whose identity has not been revealed, was on a Virgin Voyages cruise ship on Sunday. The boat had left Miami and was heading to Roatán, Honduras, when they fell, a Virgin Voyages spokesperson says in a statement shared with PEOPLE.
“Yesterday evening shortly after departure there was a medical emergency involving one of our passengers,” says the spokesperson. “This passenger went over their balcony 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.”
They add that the ship “was immediately redirected back to Miami, where the team are working closely with local officials.”
The ship was back in Miami early Sunday and has since set sail again with an adjusted itinerary; Roatán is no longer a destination. The vessel will head for Cozumel rather than Costa Maya on Wednesday, says the spokesperson.
Virgin Voyages tells PEOPLE in its statement the change is because of weather conditions unrelated to the fatal incident that occurred on the boat.
The spokesperson added that the privacy of the deceased’s family is a priority and that the company is not disclosing additional information at this time.
A spokesperson added, per Insider, that the deceased fell on another passenger on the lower deck. That person was not injured.
A vlogger on the ship, who goes by The Shiplife on YouTube, shared his account of the incident. In a video posted Monday, a woman is heard saying over an intercom, “So once again, we are now headed back to Miami, and we’ll arrive around 1:30 a.m.”
“At the moment, we do not have a departure time for tomorrow after our arrival, but we’ll share all relevant information with you as soon as we have updates,” she said as the vlogger and the people around him appeared to be in shock.
He later shared that the announcement came around 11 p.m. local time.
“At the time, we didn’t know exactly what was going on … there were rumors stating that somebody had passed away but nothing was confirmed at the time,” he added.
The captain’s announcement came around 8 a.m. local time, according to the video, when he said that the cruise line was “deeply saddened” that a passenger had fallen and died.
The vlogger shared that some passengers decided to leave the ship and that others were “shaky” after the incident.
He added that Virgin Voyages has offered passengers “100 percent future cruise credit.”
That’s terrible.
