FBI investigating death of 12-year-old boy who fell from balcony of cruise ship



A 12-year-old boy has died after falling from the balcony of a Royal Caribbean cruise ship.

Royal Caribbean’s Harmony of the Seas was on a seven-day cruise in the western Caribbean with stops in Honduras and Mexico.

'We are deeply saddened to confirm the death of one of our guests.'

On Saturday, the ship was en route to Galveston, Texas.

On the last night of the cruise, a 12-year-old boy plummeted to his death after falling from a balcony.

According to People magazine, the boy fell from the ship's "Central Park" neighborhood — an open area in the ship's interior on the 8th deck — which includes bars, restaurants, shops, and more than 10,000 plants and flowers.

The FBI confirmed that it was investigating the incident, according to the Washington Post, noting that it's “the primary federal agency authorized to investigate potential crimes on the high seas,” and was coordinating with the U.S. Coast Guard and Customs and Border Protection.

Royal Caribbean released a statement on the boy's death: “We are deeply saddened to confirm the death of one of our guests. Our Care Team is providing support and assistance to the guest’s family during this difficult time. For the privacy of the guest and their family, we have no additional details to share.”

The FBI and Royal Caribbean did not reveal the circumstances of how the boy fell from the balcony.

The Harmony of the Seas cruise ship docked in Galveston at 7 a.m. Sunday, according to cruise tracking site CruiseMapper.

In 2019, a 16-year-old boy fell to his death while attempting to climb into his room from the balcony of the Harmony of the Seas ship. The teen was on the eighth floor, according to the Broward Medical Examiner’s Office. The teen reportedly fell and landed on a pier after attempting to climb into his room from a nearby balcony because he forgot his room key.

Under the Cruise Vessel Security and Safety Act that was passed in 2010, railings on cruise ships must be at least 42 inches tall.

Harmony of the Seas was first launched in 2016 and has 18 decks and a maximum capacity of 6,687.

Between 1995 and 2024, there were 416 people who went overboard while on cruise ships, according to data compiled by cruise industry researcher Ross Klein.

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Filipino national sentenced to 30 years for planting hidden cameras in cruise ship cabins, recording children as young as 2



A Florida judge sentenced a Filipino national to 30 years in federal prison for recording child porn by planting multiple hidden cameras in guest rooms on a major cruise ship, according to authorities. Some of the victims who were secretly recorded were reportedly children as young as 2 years old.

Arvin Joseph Mirasol — a 34-year-old citizen of the Philippines — had worked as a stateroom attendant aboard Royal Caribbean Cruise Line's Symphony of the Seas, a cruise ship that can accommodate a maximum capacity of 6,680 guests.

'I want to control it, but I can't.'

A cruise ship passenger reached under the sink to get a roll of toilet paper and discovered a hidden camera attached to the counter under the sink in the guest's bathroom. The guest notified the cruise ship's security regarding the hidden camera on Feb. 25.

Cruise ship security detained Mirasol until the Symphony of the Seas cruise ship docked at Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale on March 3. Homeland Security and Customs and Border Protection officials boarded the ship and launched an investigation. Law enforcement seized Mirasol’s electronics, including his cell phone and a USB stick.

Investigators discovered that Mirasol’s electronics "contained numerous videos of children in various stages of undress," according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida. The press release added, "The focus of the videos was on the children’s genital areas."

Homeland Security Investigations agents were able to identify the children seen in the videos. The children ranged in age from 2 to 17.

The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida stated that one of the videos on the recording devices showed Mirasol installing a camera in a guest's bathroom.

Investigators noted that Mirasol had been placing cameras in passenger cabins since December 2023.

According to prosecutors, Mirasol would also enter the guests' rooms while they were showering, hide under their beds, and secretly record them exiting the shower with his cell phone.

"I want to control it, but I can't," Mirasol told investigators while being questioned, according to the affidavit.

When asked how he decides which rooms to place cameras in, Mirasol allegedly told investigators, "If I like who is in that room, I place it." He informed investigators that he would target teenage girls ages 16 and over, the affidavit read.

Mirasol was arrested in March by Broward County deputies. Mirasol pleaded guilty to producing child pornography.

On Wednesday, Mirasol was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison by U.S. District Court Judge Melissa Damian.

Royal Caribbean said in a statement released in March, "We have zero tolerance for this unacceptable behavior. We immediately reported this to law enforcement and terminated the crew member, and we will continue to fully cooperate with authorities."

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Broward County Sheriff's Office

Kentucky moms demand justice after they were allegedly drugged, raped by staff at Bahamas resort during cruise



Two moms from Kentucky are warning others about their harrowing experience at a resort in the Bahamas during a Carnival cruise.

Longtime friends Amber Shearer and Dongayla Dobson went on a kid-free vacation earlier this month. During their Carnival cruise, the duo went to a beach in the Grand Bahamas on Sunday.

The Kentucky moms said they were relaxing on a beach in Freeport when a resort staffer offered them a two-for-one drink deal. Around noon, the pair ordered one pineapple and one coconut drink and took a photo with the tropical libations.

However, the women said that the drinks were far stronger than they expected.

"Less than a few [sips] into the second drink, we knew something was wrong. Something was terribly wrong," Shearer told NewsNation.

The women said that they had only had one drink at the resort that day.

Dobson said loved ones back home noticed that they appeared to be highly intoxicated just 15 minutes after their first sips and questioned whether they had only one alcoholic beverage.

The women said they were looking for shells on the beach when a male resort staffer pointed them to an area with plenty of shells.

But the next thing Shearer could recall was waking up while she was being assaulted by a uniformed male resort worker.

"I came to in the process of my rape," a teary-eyed Shearer said.

The women claimed that the local authorities didn't administer proper sexual assault test kits

Once back on the Carnival cruise ship, the women had rape tests administered. They also had a breathalyzer test, which showed them to have little or no alcohol in their systems. However, toxicology tests showed that they had benzodiazepines, among other drugs, in their bodies.

Police identified two male suspects in the alleged sexual attack through surveillance footage. Both were employees at the resort, and one of the men reportedly had only worked there for about a week.

On Sunday night, Royal Bahamas Police arrested two men – a 40-year-old of South Bahamia and a 54-year-old of Eight Mile Rock – in connection to the alleged sex crimes, the department said in a press release.

Police said the investigation is ongoing.

WLEX-TV reported, "The pair is now receiving medical care at home, which includes thousands of dollars of preventative care, including HIV prevention medication which costs nearly $4,000."

The women are demanding justice for the alleged sexual assault.

"We want justice for what happened to us. We want to raise awareness for others," Shearer wrote in a Facebook post.

The women are upset with Carnival Cruise Line for not making them aware that the U.S. State Department had recently increased its travel advisory level for the Bahamas and advised travelers to "exercise increased caution in The Bahamas due to crime."

“The majority of crime occurs on New Providence (Nassau) and Grand Bahama (Freeport) islands,” the State Department’s Bureau of Consular Affairs stated in the "level 2" travel advisory posted on Jan. 26. “In Nassau, practice increased vigilance in the ‘Over the Hill’ area (south of Shirley Street) where gang-on-gang violence has resulted in a high homicide rate primarily affecting the local population.”

"Violent crime such as burglaries, armed robberies, and sexual assaults occur, but generally not in tourist areas," the advisory noted.

Shearer said, "You need to be aware because our cruise line did not make us aware of a travel advisory. We had no idea what was going on in the Bahamas."

The women said they didn't know about the travel advisory until "four hours after we were raped."

The mothers are warning other women of the potential dangers of traveling.

"Be safe. Two is not a group. Do not buy any drinks that come unless they come in a sealed container, in a bottle," Dobson said.

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Kentucky women raped in Bahamas warning others about travel dangers | Cuomo www.youtube.com

Margaritaville cruise bartender accused of raping, impregnating married woman in cabin, forcing her to get an abortion



A Margaritaville cruise ship bartender is accused of raping a passenger in her cabin. The cruise passenger claimed she needed to get an abortion after being impregnated by the bartender.

An anonymous woman, Jane Doe, from West Virginia filed a federal lawsuit against Classica's Margaritaville at Sea cruise line in West Palm Beach, Florida.

Doe and a female travel companion – named "HB" in court documents – were aboard the Margaritaville at Sea Paradise ship headed to the Bahamas from Riviera Beach, Florida.

On May 5, the women ordered alcoholic beverages on the ship.

"They both charged the beverages to their cabin number, thereby providing crew members staffing the bar access to their shared cabin number and room key," the lawsuit states.

After finishing their drinks, the women returned to their cabin around 1 a.m.

The travel companion admitted that she had been "pretty intoxicated" after reaching her 10-drink limit.

The filing claims that their 24-year-old bartender, Hoobesh Kumar Dookhy, snuck into their cabin in the middle of the night with the stolen key card.

"HB stated that she was sleeping when she was awakened by a male subject touching her breasts, kissing her neck, and vaginally penetrating her," the lawsuit alleges.

Fox News reported, "Dookhy and the women agree that he took his phone out to photograph the women, who slept naked, as he groped them. The woman filing a civil suit also claims that she took out her phone to videotape Dookhy sexually assaulting her friend for evidence after asking him to leave."

Jane Doe reported the sexual assault to cruise ship staff the next morning.

Investigators allegedly found HB's room key in the pocket of Dookhy's work vest, as well as a naked photo of her.

Doe – who is married – claimed that she was pregnant several months later. She allegedly admitted that she hadn't taken a paternity test, but argued that she and her husband hadn't been sexually active at the time of the alleged assault because of medical reasons.

Doe reportedly traveled out of state to get an abortion after the alleged sexual assault resulted in pregnancy.

The woman is seeking $75,000 in damages from Classica's Margaritaville at Sea cruise line. Doe claims to have "suffered physical, emotional and psychological pain,” as well as “embarrassment, humiliation, sustained mental anguish,” and “aggravation and activation of preexisting conditions, and sustained disability and the inability to lead a normal life."

HB previously filed a lawsuit over the alleged sexual assault. However, U.S. District Judge Robin Rosenberg shot down her request for punitive damages. She is currently seeking compensatory damages from the cruise line.

Doe's attorney, Spencer Aronfeld, told the Palm Beach Post that the two cases are "completely different" because Doe “became pregnant, and was forced to terminate the pregnancy from which she suffered serious complications."

In an interview with FBI agents, Dookhy allegedly confessed to drinking alcohol the night of the alleged sexual assault. However, he initially claimed that he had participated in consensual sex with HB.

Yet, Dookhy accepted a plea deal last year, where he avoided the possibility of life behind bars by pleading guilty to one count of abusive sexual contact.

Dookhy is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 11. He faces up to two years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.

A spokesperson for Margaritaville at Sea Paradise declined USA Today's request for comment.

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CEO of GM's self-driving cars division resigns after permits are revoked over pedestrian injuries and safety concerns



Kyle Vogt, CEO and founder of General Motors' self-driving car division, has resigned amid controversy over the company's overall car safety and recent incidents involving a pedestrian.

Vogt founded Cruise in 2013 before selling 80% of the company to GM in 2016 for $581 million. Half of the price went to the founder in cash, and the rest was in GM stock.

After an early October 2023 incident that garnered national headlines, Cruise was put under the spotlight over safety concerns with the robotic taxis.

A pedestrian in San Francisco was reportedly critically injured when hit by a human-controlled car, then was hit by a Cruise autonomous vehicle. The pedestrian was trapped under the Cruise vehicle, CNN reported, and dragged for 20 feet as it attempted to pull out of traffic at seven miles per hour.

Weeks later, California's Department of Motor Vehicles announced it had suspended the permits that allowed the autonomous car company to test in the state.

A press release from the DMV confirmed that Cruise would no longer be allowed to operate its self-driving taxis on public roads due to safety concerns.

It was revealed days later that the California DMV accused Cruise of withholding video of the aforementioned incident. It was alleged that video provided from the car's onboard cameras stopped shortly after the pedestrian was hit.

The government body said that Cruise did not inform regulators that the car dragged the pedestrian across the roadway.

Cruise denied to CNN that it withheld any video from the DMV and said it had indeed shared the full video upon request.

Approximately two weeks after the company lost its permits, Cruise announced a recall of all 950 self-driving taxis to conduct software updates.

The GM division has since confirmed its acceptance of Vogt's resignation but said it won't be dropping the company nor shift its direction.

"GM has made a bold commitment to autonomous vehicle technology because we believe in the profound, positive impact it will have on societies, including saving countless lives," GM said in a statement.

"We believe strongly in Cruise’s mission and the transformative technology it is developing. We fully support the actions that Cruise leadership is taking to ensure that it is putting safety first and building trust and credibility with government partners, regulators, and the broader community," the statement continued.

California's DMV previously stated that Cruise was given the steps required to reinstate its permits. However, the DMV said it will not approve them until the company's actions are "to the department’s satisfaction."

"Our commitment to Cruise with the goal of commercialization remains steadfast," GM added.

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Carnival cruise ship hammered by party-crashing winds and gargantuan waves



A cruise liner completing its journey from the Bahamas to Charleston, South Carolina, was battered in its final stretch Friday by a powerful storm, which left glass shattered, hallways flooded, and some passengers praying for relief.

The gargantuan waves and strong winds that rocked the Carnival Sunshine, a 102,853-ton ship with a guest capacity of over 3,000 souls, were resultant of a low-pressure storm system that hit the East Coast over the weekend.

Daniel Taylor, a passenger aboard the vessel, told the Daily Mail that around 4:30 p.m. on Friday, the ship sailed into choppy waters, prompting the captain to both issue an advisory about adverse weather conditions and warn of a possible delay.

"He said that the staff would do everything they could to minimize discomfort," said Taylor. "I went to a show in the Liquid Lounge at the front of the ship at that time. ... The sound of us crashing into the swells could be heard over the music playing."

Taylor's intended distraction at the lounge served only to highlight the intensity of the storm.

"Stage lights mounted on the ceiling began to shake, the disco ball started swinging, and the LED wall on the stage ... began rolling side by side on its own," added Taylor.

Sharon Tutrone, a professor at Coastal Carolina University who was a passenger on the battered ship, noted on Twitter that the Sunshine spent "11 hours pitching, diving, and rolling," all the while surrounded by lightning.

Tutrone added that at one point, "the ship took a huge hit by a wave and sounded like it split in two."

The situation reportedly continued to deteriorate into the night, with only sporadic updates from the crew as water began pouring from the ceilings and into the hallways.

WCIV reported that passenger Christa Seifert-alicea said the silence from crew members amid the dark and rocking was the "worst part."

"What we endured is indescribable, not only to feel it yourself but to hear and see it set in on every single person around you from adult, child, and the elderly is something I will never forget," said Seifert-alicea.

Videos shared online by various passengers show the ominous weather that delayed the ship's return as well as the damage wrought within the vessel.

\u201cFootage from the Carnival sunshine cruise \ud83d\ude33\ud83c\udf0a Video credit: \ud83d\udcf9 TT: k8lyns_m\u201d
— Wow Terrifying (@Wow Terrifying) 1685403445


The Daily Mail reported that minor injuries were sustained and one person aboard indicated, "You could smell people being sick walking down the halls."

Vomit ejected by the panic-stricken was not the only thing racing down the halls during the ship's Odyssean thrashing.

One video of a lower deck shows debris, broken doors, and waste traveling down one hallway on a surge of water:

\u201cThe aftermath aboard Carnival Sunshine after a severe storm. \nThe crew from Deck 0-4 evacuated to the theater, and anywhere they could rest\u2026 the crew bar destroyed.\u201d
— Crew Center (@Crew Center) 1685268922


Passenger Brenda Shobert wrote on Facebook, "We had a 40 foot wave hit our side of the ship,.. we almost fell out the bed.. things were crashing all around us and the carpet on my side of the bed was soaked bc water came in thru our balcony door."

The cruise line said in a statement to Fox Weather, "Carnival Sunshine’s return to Charleston was impacted by the weather and rough seas on Saturday. The weather’s prolonged impact on the Charleston area delayed the ship’s arrival on Sunday and as a result, the next voyage’s embarkation was also delayed. We appreciate the patience and understanding of all our guests."

Carnival added, "The weather and rough surf led to some crew cabins being temporarily taken out of service while we clean up water damage. All the public areas of the ship are open and in service and Carnival Sunshine is currently operating its next cruise, a five-day Bahamas sailing."

\u201c@CarnivalCruise #carnivalsunshine The morning after the storm. 9:07am.\u201d
— FlyersCaptain\u2122\u00ae\u00a9 (@FlyersCaptain\u2122\u00ae\u00a9) 1685319945

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Search called off for teen who went overboard while on graduation celebration cruise in the Bahamas

Search called off for teen who went overboard while on graduation celebration cruise in the Bahamas



The search for a Louisiana teen who went overboard while on a graduation celebration cruise has been called off, the United States Coast Guard announced Friday, citing Bahamian military officials.

"We were informed by [Royal Bahamas Defence Force] this evening that they were suspending the active search efforts pending further developments & were not requesting further @USCG assistance after notifying the Robbins family," said Lt. Cmdr. Matt Spado, Coast Guard liaison officer in an update posted to Twitter early Saturday morning.

"We offer our sincerest condolences to Cameron Robbins' family and friends," Lt. Cmdr. Spado added.

Cameron Robbins, 18, a recent graduate from University Laboratory School in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, was on an excursion in the Bahamas when he allegedly jumped overboard on a dare, WAFB reported.

Students from multiple area high schools were on the pirate-themed boat for a graduation trip, the outlet also reported. The students from U-High, including Robbins, had only been in the Bahamas for a few hours before they boarded the sunset cruise.

The U.S. Coast Guard District Seven deployed search and rescue assets to assist the Bahamian military in its efforts. The USCG's Miami-based command center and aircrews supported the RBDF from the initial report of the incident through Friday evening, according to a statement acquired by WAFB.

Justin Morgan, who was Robbins' baseball coach, described the new graduate as well-loved, a fierce competitor, and a hard worker, CNN reported.

"It's just a really emotional time for us right now. We're just trying to send up those prayers and give our support," Kevin George, director of the University Lab School told WBRZ in an interview prior to the search being called off.

"There are lots of kids that are on this vacation and it's just something parents throw together and put together," he also said, adding that he believed 10-15 of U-High's students were also on the trip.

George said Robbins had attended the school for 13 years. He described Robbins as an "athlete, great kid, great smile, great head of hair. Just one of the kids you're so proud of when they cross the stage."

Watch coverage from WBRZ below of the initial search for 18-year-old Cameron Robbins, who went overboard while on a celebratory sunset cruise in the Bahamas.



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