A passenger who jumped from the world’s largest cruise ship on Sunday fell a whopping 90 feet to his death, officials said, and that staff on board knew exactly what had happened before the passenger hit the water.
The man, whose identity has not been released, jumped from a running track on the fifth floor of Royal Caribbean’s Icon of the Seas on the first day of a week-long voyage, a member of the security team told The Washington Post as the ship returned to Miami on Saturday morning.
Officials explained that each deck is about 20 feet high, meaning the man fell from about 90 feet.
The man’s body was transported by van to the Miami-Dade County Coroner’s Office, according to crew members.
Police also attended the ship, took statements at the dock and recovered copies of CCTV footage of the fatal incident.
When the man jumped on May 26, the fall detection system was triggered almost immediately and staff on board took action, the security team member continued.
“We found out what happened seconds after he fell into the water. Procedures say to immediately spot him visually,” the source said, noting that a security guard also saw him jump on security camera footage.
“It was the captain’s decision whether to stop and turn back, and he did,” he added.
When the alarm was sounded, the ship’s specialist security team prepared to launch a rescue boat to extract the man.
The remaining guards were stationed at designated lookout points to provide 360-degree surveillance of the surrounding waters, while the coast guard was briefed on the situation and immediately dispatched aircraft to the scene, according to a crew member who asked not to be named.
As rescue efforts got underway, Icon of the Seas’ medical team was put on high alert.
The ship was staffed with paramedics, nurses, former emergency physicians and even surgeons, and was equipped with all the life-saving medical equipment typically found in a small hospital, a member of the ship’s medical team told The Washington Post.
Sources say the man was likely not alive when he was pulled from the water.
Crew members said the ship’s doctor pronounced him dead after his body was taken to the medical bay.
The bodies of the passengers were then stored in the aircraft’s eight-drawer morgue.
Medical team members said no other people on board the ship had died during the week-long voyage, which called at ports in Honduras, Mexico and the Bahamas.
A care team on board the ship assisted the man’s family in the days following the incident, he told The Washington Post.
The families were given the option to remain on the ship or return home, but most chose to stay with their loved ones’ bodies, the sources said.
Other passengers who disembarked from the massive ship, carrying 7,600 guests and 2,350 crew members, said they held prayers in memory of the man but went about their lives largely as normal for the remainder of the cruise.
“I didn’t know him, but it was just so sad,” said Janine Parnell, a passenger from Atlanta.
Parnell was one of about 20 people who attended a small memorial service at the Running Deck.
“We just held hands and prayed for the family to find comfort and peace. There were a lot of tears. It felt like that was all we could do,” she lamented.
