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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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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Video: Brawl erupts on cruise ship after passenger dies from falling overboard off the coast of Florida



Video shows a brawl erupting on a cruise ship after a passenger fell overboard and died off the coast of Florida.

Around 5 a.m. on Thursday, a 36-year-old female passenger aboard the MSC Meraviglia cruise ship fell off the vessel, which has a capacity of 4,500 passengers and 1,600 crew members. The cruise ship was sailing from Ocean Cay in the Bahamas to Port Canaveral, Florida.

The ship's advanced man overboard detection system alerted the crew that a passenger had gone overboard. The ship's crew carried out an immediate search and rescue operation off the coast of Port Canaveral.

Cruise passenger Marisa Aebi told the Daily Mail that the ship turned around "very fast." She added, "We were all told to go to and stay in our rooms as they did a head count."

The U.S. Coast Guard was notified and joined the search for the overboard woman with boats and a helicopter.

The Coast Guard said that the woman's body was recovered from the Atlantic Ocean approximately 18 miles off the coast of Port Canaveral around 7:30 a.m. on Thursday.

MSC Cruises issued a statement: "Unfortunately, despite the rapid rescue operation, the passenger sustained fatal injuries. We are offering our full support to authorities as they investigate this matter. We are deeply saddened by this incident and offer our sincerest condolences to the family and those affected."

The cause of the incident is under investigation.

The MSC Meraviglia cruise ship returned to Port Canaveral.

Aebi said that "several fights broke out" during the disembarkation "over how long it was taking to get off." She also claimed that several people were arrested for the brawl on the cruise ship.

According to a Report on Operational Incidents issued by the Cruise Lines International Association, 212 cruise passengers fell overboard between 2009 and 2019. There were approximately 30 million cruise passengers in 2019, according to the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA).

In November, a man fell overboard from a Carnival cruise ship. He was able to survive in the open sea for up to 15 hours until the Coast Guard rescued him.

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U.S. Embassy warns people fleeing an active volcano about the COVID dangers associated with cruise ships



The CDC drew jeers and condemnation on social media Friday after evacuees fleeing an active volcano via a Royal Caribbean ship were warned that traveling on cruise ships is not advised due to a higher risk of contracting COVID-19.

However, it appears a U.S. embassy might have made the call to remind the people running from eruptions of the latest coronavirus safety measures.

What are the details?

The Associated Press reported that the La Soufriere volcano on the island of St. Vincent has been shooting out explosions of gas and ash for the past week, sending tens of thousands of residents fleeing.

The last time the volcano put off similar blasts was more than a century ago, when some 1,700 people were killed. The current explosions have not yet caused any deaths, but the roofs of homes have collapsed from the weight of the fallen ash and a lot of water supplies have been contaminated.

The outlet reported that "British, U.S. and Canadian nationals were being evacuated aboard Royal Caribbean Cruises' Celebrity Reflection from the harbor in the Kingstown, capital of St. Vincent and the Grenadines."

The U.S. Embassy in Barbados, the Eastern Caribbean, and the OECS, sent out a "natural disaster alert" notifying Americans on St. Vincent that they had coordinated with Royal Caribbean Cruises "for a transit opportunity" to depart the island on Friday and drop everyone off in St. Martin the next day.

Then, the embassy issued this warning:

CDC recommends against travel on cruise ships because the chance of getting COVID-19 on cruise ships is higher since the virus appears to spread more easily between people in close quarters aboard ships. See link to CDC guidance below.

In reaction, Royal Caribbean Blog tweeted out, "The CDC actually warned people fleeing a volcano that cruise ships are unsafe because of Covid-19."

The CDC actually warned people fleeing a volcano that cruise ships are unsafe because of Covid-19https://t.co/9bsSMgXpFm
— Royal Caribbean Blog (@Royal Caribbean Blog)1618603206.0

Most people on Twitter reacted with fury. One person joked that the CDC director's message was essentially, "I know you will probably burn to death but... floating Petri dish is bad."

Another wrote, "@CDCgov seems to be out of bounds lately. Volcano & all it's fireballs vs ship of supplies to help ppl dealing with the volcano (with limited exposure handing off goods). It's a no brainer. #Cruise."

Someone else chimed in, "So die in lava instead? Sure that's more safe."

But others said the whole thing was a big misunderstanding, and that the U.S. embassy made the call to include the CDC's latest guidance.

One person tweeted, "You're misinterpreting the posting from the US Embassy in Barbados. The Embassy was just repeating the latest CDC guidance, which was updated on the CDC website on April 2nd, which is also linked in the posting. The CDC guidance was NOT related to the eruption or evacuation."

Another added, "It is clear the CDC did NOT do that. The CDC guidance is for cruise ship travel in general. The embassy added the CDC guidance on cruise ships, I assume to be thorough and for people who have other choices to use those."

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