BROWARD COUNTY, Fla. (WFLA) – Documents released this week reveal what caused a 5-year-old girl to fall off a Disney cruise ship in June, and her father jumped to save her.
According to the Broward County Sheriff’s Office, the family was aboard the Disney Dream on June 29 when the incident occurred.
The family stopped to take photos on Deck 4, according to documents. The five-year-old girl climbed into the porthole and sat on the railing, facing her mother.
The girl lost her balance and fell backwards into the water approximately 49 feet below, documents said.
The girl’s father told investigators that he did not see his daughter fall. But he heard her screams and saw her in the water.
Investigators said the girl was so small that the crew’s offboard sensors did not activate when she fell into the water.
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Surveillance camera footage showed the girl’s parents panicking and trying to call the crew for help. Shortly afterward, the girl’s father jumped into the water to try to save her, documents said.
The ship’s “personless vessel” protocol was then initiated and the U.S. Coast Guard was notified.
A rescue boat was dispatched and rescued the girl and her father from the water.
The father and daughter were then taken to the ship’s medical center, where they remained until the ship berthed. They were then taken to the hospital.
The girl was not injured, documents said. Her father suffered two spinal fractures.
“At first, she couldn’t believe that her daughter had fallen into the water, because she thought there was a glass barrier. When she realized she was underwater, she screamed for help,” the report said.
Assistant State’s Attorney Melissa Kelly decided not to press charges against the mother.
“The defendant believed there was some kind of protective barrier between the railing and the water. She was innocently taking photos of her daughter when the incident occurred,” Kelly wrote in the memo. “This was an isolated incident and all the evidence points to it being mere coincidence. The defendant was supervising the victim and her actions in forcing the child to sit on the railing were negligent, but do not meet the standard of culpable negligence or complete disregard for the child’s safety.”
