A woman has tragically died after falling from her balcony on a Virgin Voyages cruise ship, landing on another passenger. The incident occurred on the Valiant Lady ship as it was departing Miami for Roatan, Honduras, around 9:35 p.m. on Sunday, April 2. The ship returned to port following the incident and then resumed its journey with a few minor deviations from the original plan, stopping in Cozumel, Mexico, before continuing on to Bimini, Bahamas.
Despite receiving prompt medical attention, the passenger who fell from her balcony onto a lower deck passed away. The individual who was struck by the falling woman wasn’t seriously hurt.
According to data from the Cruise Lines International Association, falling from a balcony on a cruise ship is a rare occurrence. Between 2009 and 2019, there were 126 minor injuries and 292 serious injuries to passengers or crew members aboard cruise ships.
In 2022, a passenger on a Carnival cruise ship, James Michael Grimes, vanished on November 24, the evening before Thanksgiving, after plunging into the ocean from the Carnival Valor. Grimes had stepped outside the bar to use the restroom and somehow ended up in the water. He could no longer see the ship when he came to as he awoke in the water. A US Coast Guard ship came to Grimes’ aid 20 miles from the Southwest Pass of the Mississippi River. He had struggled for 20 hours to stay alive before being found.
