Miami, United States— The alarm went off at sea. On Tuesday afternoon a five-year-old girl went overboard from a cruise ship sailing off the Florida coast. She lived. She was badly hurt.
Global News and Coast Guard reports said the incident occurred at around 2:30 p.m. aboard a large cruise liner en route from Miami to Cozumel. The child fell from Deck 5, where railings are lower near a lifeboat station. How she got over is under investigation.
Crew threw a life ring and marked the position. The ship executed a Williamson Turn and stopped. A rescue boat was lowered within eight minutes. The child was in the water for 11 minutes. Hypothermia and impact injuries were immediate.
"The overboard detection system alerted, then we saw her in the water," a crew member told investigators in a preliminary statement. "She was conscious but bleeding." The ship's medical center stabilized her before a Coast Guard helicopter hoisted her.
Coast Guard Station Miami said the girl suffered severe injuries consistent with a fall from height onto water, including head trauma and fractures. She was flown to Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami. Her condition remains critical but stable.
Cruise overboard cases are rare and heavily litigated. The industry says railings are 42 inches high and compliant. Critics say children climb deck furniture. The vessel's CCTV footage is now in custody of federal investigators.
The cruise line said it is cooperating and providing support to the family. It declined to name the ship pending family notification protocols, though tracking data shows a course reversal 40 miles east of Key Biscayne.
The National Transportation Safety Board does not investigate cruise overboards unless mechanical failure is suspected. The Coast Guard does. Its report will take weeks.
Tonight the ship resumed its course. The girl is in intensive care. The sea where she fell is empty.
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