A tragedy was confirmed aboard a Virgin Voyages cruise ship on Monday after a passenger was pronounced dead after going over a room balcony and landing on a lower deck.
The passenger was traveling on the Valiant Lady cruise ship, which had departed Miami and was headed toward Honduras. The incident occurred around roughly 9:35 p.m. on April 2. The boat was approximately 10 miles from Key Largo at the time of the incident.
“Yesterday evening shortly after departure, there was a medical emergency involving one of our passengers,” a Virgin Voyages spokesperson said in a statement obtained by FOX Business. “This passenger went over their balcony onto a lower deck, and despite receiving immediate medical attention, has passed away … We are deeply saddened by this loss of life and our hearts and thoughts are with this person’s loved ones.”
A YouTube account called “The ShipLife” recorded the announcement following the passenger’s fall, telling voyagers that the ship was returning to Miami with an expected arrival time of 1:30 a.m.
“At the time we didn’t know exactly what was going on, however a lot of plans were getting canceled and everybody was kind of curious around this ship,” he said, noting that rumors had begun to circulate aboard that a passenger had died. The news was confirmed around 3 or 4 a.m., he said.
“It’s a little shaky,” the vlogger said of the morale aboard, noting that Virgin Voyages offered all passengers a 100% cruise credit for a future trip following the incident. “There are some passengers who did disembark because of the situation. Virgin Voyages is doing everything they can to be accommodating.”
The ship returned to Miami following the fall before departing again, though the itinerary for the remainder of the cruise had been altered.
CruiseHive reported that the ship is now en-route to Cozumel, Mexico. The cruise was planned to stop in Rogan, Honduras and Costa Maya, Mexico, as part of its itinerary, but both stops have been canceled.
The Valiant Lady is a relatively new ship, taking its first sail in February last year. The Miami-based boat can host up to 2,700 guests per voyage.
