Carnival cruise passenger falls to his death from a balcony on to a deck below as the ship was returning to Florida
- Cruise passenger died after falling from a balcony on the ninth deck to the fifth
- He was on board the Carnival Horizon heading to Miami from the Caribbean
- Witnesses saw area of the taped taped off and police are investigating the death
- Ship had been on a six-night tour of the Caribbean, Cayman Islands and Mexico
A passenger on board a Carnival cruise ship died when he fell from a balcony on to the deck as the vessel was returning to Florida.
The man died after falling from the ninth deck of the the Carnival Horizon to the fifth, as the ship was heading to Miami from the Caribbean.
Carnival Cruise Line said the passenger died as the ship was returning to PortMiami on Friday after spending six-night cruise around the Western Caribbean with stops in Jamaica, the Cayman Islands and Mexico.
A witness said an area of the fifth deck was cordoned off by staff and fellow passengers ‘knew something was up’.
The Carnival Horizon was heading toward Miami when a passenger died falling from the fifth deck. The ship is seen (above) arriving at it’s new home port of Miami in September last year
Speaking to CBS Miami, Cindy Knox said a member of the cabin crew confirmed the guest’s death following a fall.
She said: ‘We definitely saw something was up when we were looking over our balcony and we’re seeing a section of the fifth floor it’s all blocked off and people are standing around guarding where you can’t get to it and all the furniture is pushed out of the way.
‘You knew something was up you just didn’t know what. I asked our cabin steward, ”Life Flight didn’t come last night, is everything OK?” And he said, ”no, he passed away”.’
The man’s identity is not yet known and Miami-Dade police said officers are investigating the circumstances around the death.
Carnival Cruise Line confirmed the man’s death and offered ‘thoughts and prayers’ to his family.
A spokesman for the cruise company said: ‘We can confirm the death of a guest on Carnival Horizon as the ship was returning to Miami on Friday evening.
‘Our CareTeam continues to provide support to the guest’s family and we cooperated with the standard law enforcement investigation when the ship arrived to PortMiami on Saturday morning.’