Boy, 16, dies after trying to get into his room on cruise ship
A 16-year-old boy who tried to enter his cabin from a neighbouring balcony aboard a Royal Caribbean cruise has fallen to his death.
On January 11, teen passenger Laurent Mercer tried to get into his eighth-floor bedroom from the balcony of a neighbour on the Harmony of the Seas ship.
He lost his footing and fell onto the pier, according to the Fort Launderdale Sun-Sentinel.
The boat had been stopped at Labadee in Haiti at the time.
The Sun-Sentinel reports a statement from the Office of the Medical Examiner and Trauma Services of Broward County said the ship’s medical team responded to the incident on the pier and attempted CPR.
“But the (boy) had sustained major head trauma and was pronounced dead,” the statement said.
A Royal Caribbean Cruises spokesperson told Yahoo it was saddened by the loss of the guest in the tragic accident.
The Sun-Sentinel reports the seven-day cruise returned to Port Everglades in Florida on Sunday, where Mercer’s body was delivered to the county.
A spokesperson for Broward County did not return Yahoo’s request for comment.
A passenger on the cruise said she saw the teen hit a concrete dock.
“The workers were amazingly fast acting and tried to keep him alive, but I’m pretty sure he was dead on impact,” Jaclyn Syroney reportedly wrote on Facebook.
“[They] were also fast acting [in] removing his body and covering up the area so people wouldn’t see it. Royal Caribbean handled this situation with utmost respect for the passenger and the family.”
