A cruise passenger died after falling from an upper deck of a Norwegian Cruise Line ship during the final night of a Caribbean sailing, authorities and the cruise line confirmed.
The deadly incident happened aboard the Norwegian Getaway on the evening of Sunday, Aug. 23, as the ship was returning to Miami from a four-day Caribbean cruise.
At around 3:30 a.m. on Monday, Aug. 24, deputies with the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office were called to PortMiami following reports of a fall aboard the vessel, according to the Miami Herald.
Passengers onboard said an announcement was made sometime between 11 p.m. and midnight the night before.
One passenger, Wes Sold, later said online that crew members reported a guest had fallen from the 10th floor and landed on a Deck 7 walkway on the port side of the ship.
Sold shared his account on TikTok and posted a photo showing crew members covering the deceased passenger with a tarp.
Norwegian Cruise Line confirmed that a guest fell from a balcony onto a lower deck.
“On the evening of August 23, a guest went over their balcony, falling on a lower deck,” a Norwegian Cruise Line spokesperson told Cruise Fever.
The cruise line said crew members immediately rushed to help and attempted life-saving measures, but the passenger could not be saved.
“While our crew acted immediately to provide life sustaining measures, the guest did not survive,” the company said. “Our thoughts are with the guest’s family during this very difficult time.”
The identity of the passenger has not been publicly released.
The Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office Homicide Bureau is now investigating the incident as what authorities described as an “unclassified death investigation.”
That classification does not necessarily mean foul play is suspected. Investigators are working to determine exactly what happened before the passenger fell.
The Miami-Dade Medical Examiner’s Office is expected to determine the official cause and manner of death.
The Norwegian Getaway was on the final night of a four-day round-trip cruise out of Miami when the tragedy occurred.
The ship departed Florida on Aug. 21 and traveled to Nassau in the Bahamas as well as Norwegian Cruise Line’s private island destination, Great Stirrup Cay.
The vessel returned to PortMiami on Aug. 24 as scheduled.
Authorities have not publicly released additional details about the circumstances leading up to the fall, including whether anyone witnessed what happened or whether investigators believe the death was accidental.
The investigation remains ongoing.
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