Royal Caribbean Passenger Survives Dramatic Fall From 10th Floor Deck

A 42-year-old woman has been saved at sea. "Everyone was trying to help," one passenger shared

A 42-year-old woman was rescued after a terrifying fall from a Royal Caribbean cruise ship on Sunday.

The passenger fell from the 10th floor deck of the Mariner of the Seas into the sea below as the ship sailed about 27 nautical miles south of Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic.

The boat, which departed from Port Canaveral in Florida for an eight-day round-trip journey, was en route to Willemstad in Curaçao at the time of the incident, U.S. Coast Guard officials told Fox 35 Orlando.

"After we saw...the life preservers and the smoke, I was like, someone just died," passenger Matthew Kuhn told the outlet. “I think it was amazing to see everyone was on their balcony. Everyone was trying to help, and the crew was very receptive to everyone.”

"To go from, ‘She’s probably not going to be found,’ — and 'It’s a body recovery,' versus 'Holy c---, they found her, and she’s alive!," Kuhn continued. “The whole mood, even the cruise director . . . you could tell it was very somber for a brief time. When they found her, it was like, people were relieved. There was just a sense of, ‘Okay, cool. No one died on our cruise.’"

As the boats hoisted the woman to safety, passengers applauded and the Mariner of the Seas resumed its voyage.

“The passenger was recovered alive and reported to be in good health, after reportedly falling into the water from (the) 10th deck of the ship,” Coast Guard spokesperson Ricardo Castrodad told USA Today.

Related: Passenger, 77, Dies of COVID After Outbreak on Carnival Cruise Ship

Castrodad confirmed that the woman was brought to the ship’s medical facility and then transferred to a hospital in Willemstad for further assessment. The Coast Guard is looking into what caused her to fall.

A Royal Caribbean spokesperson said in a statement to the outlet: “The ship and crew immediately reported the incident to local authorities and began searching for the guest. Thankfully, the guest was successfully recovered and was brought on board. Our Care team is now offering assistance and support to them and their traveling party.” The Mariner of the Seas is expected to arrive back at Port Canaveral on July 1.

Royal Caribbean also cited data from a Cruise Lines International Association "Report on Operational Incidents" to Fox 35 Orlando. It revealed 212 man-overboard incidents between 2009 and 2019. Of that number, 48 individuals were saved.

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Related: Carnival Offers Cruise Ships as Temporary Hospitals as Coronavirus Spreads, but Doctors Have Doubts

Last year, a man fell overboard from the Carnival ship Valor and was rescued by the U.S. Coast Guard on November 24.

The missing passenger, who was not identified, had been last seen on the night of November 23 at approximately 11 p.m., according to CNN, as the ship sailed in the Gulf of Mexico from New Orleans toward Cozumel, Mexico.

Lt. Seth Gross, a search and rescue coordinator for the Coast Guard said the man could have been in the water for as long as 15 hours, "the absolute longest that I've heard about — and just one of those Thanksgiving miracles.”

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