Dad didn't put daughter on railing before terrifying Disney cruise fall: Authorities
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The dad of a five-year-old girl who fell overboard at Disney cruise ship off the coast of Florida didn’t lift her up onto the railing ahead of the accident, according to authorities.
The “little girl was not being held, as erroneously reported on some social media sites,” the Broward County Sheriff’s Office told CBS News Miami on Tuesday, per the New York Post.
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The comments were in reference to a wildfire of speculation that the child’s father had lifted her up for a photo before she fell backwards and into the ocean.
The scary accident happened on Sunday aboard the Disney Dream cruise ship as it sailed between the Bahamas and Fort Lauderdale.
The Disney Dream rescue team pulled the girl and her father into a small boat on Sunday after the dad jumped into the water to save his daughter.
A fellow passenger came to the defence of the dad, insisting that a crew member told her that the young girl scaled the protective barrier.
“The crew member who said that’s her station and she was on the fourth floor, she did say that she was climbing up and the parents were playing shuffleboard and the dad jumped in after her,” Monica Shannon told CBS News Miami, per the Post.
Shannon said she was on a lower deck with her family, waiting to meet Disney princesses, when she saw “something really fast fly by.”
“I just figured it was maybe a part of the show or just the experience, but about five minutes later we heard that someone flew overboard,” she added.
Shannon said that Deck 4, where the girl and her family were when she fell, is less crowded than other decks, and contains shuffleboard courts.
She said a protective barrier was in place on the deck, but there were were “little divots and spaces that make it so that you can climb.”
Authorities said the little girl is lucky to be alive and that the Disney crew was quick to take action.
“Based on media reports I have read, the Disney crew was well prepared. Clearly, their training and readiness paid off because they executed a successful ocean rescue,” the Broward County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.
“While there doesn’t appear to be anything suspicious, Broward Sheriff’s Office detectives are investigating the circumstances that led up to the child falling overboard. This family is so blessed. It’s great to be able to respond to good news rather than what could have been a tragic outcome,” the statement continued.
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