Virgin cruise disaster as woman falls to death off balcony

Tuesday, April 4, 2023

A woman fell to her death from the upper deck of a cruise ship to the ground below, landing on another passenger on the way down.

Tragedy struck after a Virgin Voyages ship, the Valiant Lady, took off on Sunday (April 2) at around 6pm local time from Miami.

Shortly after the ship’s departure for Roatan, Honduras, the unnamed victim plunged from the upper balcony.

A spokesperson for the cruise told TMZ: “Yesterday evening shortly after departure there was a medical emergency involving one of our passengers.

“This passenger went over their balcony and 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.”

Some horrified witnesses on the ship claimed the woman fell about 10 storeys to her death.

Her fall from the balcony was broken by a fellow passenger, who was not seriously injured and is understood to be “doing OK” according to the publication.

The ship was supposed to dock at Roatan, the first stop on its six-day tour, today (Tuesday, April 4), with further stops planned at Costa Maya and Bimini.

But the spokesperson said the ship was immediately turned around and headed back to Miami, where it docked around 2am on Monday (April 3) after the fall.

Passengers are now being offered credit towards a future cruise, according to one holidaymaker who was on the boat.

Virgin Voyagers staff are now working with officials to determine what caused the incident to occur.

We are deeply saddened by this loss of life and our hearts and thoughts are with this person’s loved ones,” the company spokesperson added.

And this isn’t the first time tragedy has befallen the Valiant Lady.

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