The man who jumped from the world’s largest cruise ship last weekend fell a horrifying 90 feet to his death, sources onboard the ship said.
The male passenger, whose identity remains unknown, leapt from the running track on the fifth level of Royal Caribbean’s record-breaking Icon of the Seas.
The incident occurred on the first day of the week-long cruise, not long after the ship departed from Florida. The ship was only about 300 miles from Port Miami at the time of the jump.
Each deck of the enormous ship stands around 20 feet high, meaning the man’s fall stretched about 90 feet, a security team member told The NY Post upon the ship’s return to Miami.
Police met with staffers at the Miami docks, collecting statements and a copy of the surveillance footage of the man’s fatal jump.
The May 26 incident instantly triggered the overboard detection system, after which staffers and security quickly worked to rescue the passenger.
“We knew what had happened literally seconds after he hit the water. The protocol is that we’re supposed to immediately make visual contact to see if we can spot him,” a source said, adding that a security guard on staff saw the man jump via the camera feed from the ship deck.
“It’s the captain’s call whether to stop and turn around, and he did,” he added.
Cruise Ship Crew Attended to Passenger’s Family After His Death
A security team then prepared a rescue boat and departed the ship to retrieve the overboard passenger from the ocean. Meanwhile, other security team members completed a scan of the water and notified the Coast Guard.
Back on board, staff transported the man to the medical bay, where he was pronounced deceased. His body was stored in the on-board morgue – equipped with eight drawers – until the ship returned to Florida.
The Icon of the Seas saw no further fatalities on its one-week voyage to Honduras, Mexico, and the Bahamas.
Loved ones of the deceased had the option to fly home if they wished. Most, however, chose to stay with their relative’s body on the ship.
A small group of 20 or so onboard held a memorial for the unnamed man. The remaining passengers enjoyed the cruise as normal for the rest of the week.