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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YouTube DJ feared dead from jumping off cruise ship after fight with love interest, allegedly said he wanted to kill her



A Brazilian YouTube DJ is feared to be dead after he reportedly jumped from a cruise ship after getting into a fight with his love interest.

Carlos Alberto Mota Candreva, 32, was on a two-day New Year’s cruise from São Paulo to Rio de Janeiro aboard the MSC Preziosa ship. Joining Candreva on the voyage was his 27-year-old love interest, Vitoria Barbara Momenso.

Just hours before his disappearance, Candreva was filming himself in exuberant travel videos and sharing them on social media.

However, Candreva and Momenso got into a heated argument about their relationship status during the cruise.

Momenso said, "While I was in the bathroom, Carlos took my cell phone. I didn't even know he had the password. He saw my conversations with other men and sent screenshots to friends saying he was thinking about killing me. He intended to kill me."

Metrópoles reported, "The sending of the messages was confirmed by people close to Carlos."

Momenso said she was not Candreva's girlfriend, and that their relationship was casual.

"He always said that I didn't care about him, that I didn't recognize the things he did for me. I made a point of throwing it in the face," Momenso said. "The moment he fell, just before the Alexandre Pires show, he wanted to resume this discussion. I said: 'Please, let's enjoy the cruise.'"

However, Candreva allegedly jumped off the cruise ship early Saturday morning.

"There were people on the side, there was even someone to hold them back, but no one reacted. I was close to the stairs, there was no way I could run after him. It was very quick," Momenso noted of Candreva leaping off the cruise ship.

According to Momenso, Candreva's last words before jumping off the cruise ship were: "Do you doubt it?"

Candreva reportedly jumped off the cruise ship approximately 25 miles off the coast of São Sebastião, on the north coast of São Paulo.

The Brazilian Navy launched a search mission to find Candreva, which has fruitless thus far.

MSC said in a statement, "A thorough search was carried out on board and it was confirmed that the guest intentionally jumped overboard. The incident was immediately reported to the competent authorities and the Coast Guard released the ship to continue its journey."

Momenso reportedly required medical attention following Candreva’s jump. She disembarked the cruise the next day after speaking to police.

"Carlos was a person full of light, happy. But, over time, his shine faded," Momenso said. "He said that everything in his life was fine, except the love part, because he wanted to win me over. His goal in life was for me to be his girlfriend. He did what he could and what he couldn’t in pursuit of that."

Candreva's family blames Momenso for the tragic incident.

"Carlos was practically bankrupt. She consumed him financially. He paid for the trip, because it was her dream. He freaked out. She will never admit it, but she is responsible for what happened. She didn’t play him, but she was the one who made him get to that point”, said Christiane Mota – Candreva's sister.

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Carlos Mota Candreva: Tragic Journey's End - YouTuber DJ's Heart-Wrenching Leap from Cruise Ship www.youtube.com

Deceased man was left to rot on a cruise because staff stored dead body in drink cooler, widow's lawsuit says



A Florida woman is accusing staff with Celebrity Cruises of mishandling her husband's dead body, which allegedly caused it to severely decompose, according to a new lawsuit.

Two days after the Celebrity Equinox cruise ship departed Fort Lauderdale for an eight-day voyage to ports in the Caribbean, a 79-year-old passenger died. Robert Jones died of a heart attack while on the cruise ship on Aug. 15, 2022.

The lawsuit claims that cruise staff stored the dead body of Jones inside a walk-in drink cooler. The lawsuit alleges that cruise personnel informed Jones' wife that her husband of 55 years would be maintained in the ship's morgue for the next six days until the ship docked in Fort Lauderdale.

The wife, Marilyn Jones, says that cruise staff dissuaded her from taking her husband's body off the ship when it docked in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The suit claims cruise staff warned the widow that there was a "50/50 chance" the coroner's office would take possession of the body to perform an autopsy before releasing it to a funeral home, according to NBC News. They also allegedly told her that she would need to find transportation back to the United States if she stepped off the ship.

"This was especially distressing to Ms. Jones, who is elderly and was traveling alone with her husband," the lawsuit claims.

The federal lawsuit says Jones' body was not in the ship's morgue, but was instead "laying in a bag on a pallet on the floor."

The lawsuit alleges that the drink cooler was not cold enough to preserve the dead body and caused physical indignities to Jones' body.

The suit claims that Jones' body was in "advanced stages of decomposition" because of the conditions in the beverage cooler.

The Associated Press reported, "That left the body bloated and green, and the family was unable to have an open-coffin funeral 'which was a long-standing family custom and was what his family had desired,' the lawsuit says."

"By allowing Mr. Jones’ body to decompose while on the ship to such a state that his family was unable to have open casket funeral and wake services, denying his wife of 55 years, children, grandchildren, friends, and community the closure their family and community deserved, a practice which was a part of his family’s culture," the lawsuit states.

The Celebrity Equinox docked in Fort Lauderdale nearly a week after Jones died from a heart attack. The body was reportedly recovered by a funeral home worker and a Broward County sheriff's deputy.

The lawsuit alleges that the family suffered "extreme trauma by visualizing Mr. Jones’ body horrifically decomposed, and knowing their husband and father was callously and casually left in a beverage cooler, stripping him of his dignity."

Marilyn Jones, her two daughters, and three grandchildren are seeking $1 million in damages.

Celebrity Cruises said, "Due to the sensitivity of the alleged facts and out of respect for the family, we decline to comment on the matter."

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