Major update as girl who fell overboard from Disney Cruise is saved by hero dad
Police have released remarkable new details about the hero dad who rescued his five-year-old daughter after she fell overboard on a Disney cruise.
The nail-biting incident unfolded on June 29 aboard the Disney Dream cruise as it returned to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, following a four-day voyage around the Bahamas. Passengers on the ship described how the father leapt into the sea to go after his daughter when she fell from the railings into the sea below, before swimming over to her to keep her afloat until help arrived. The pair were brought back onto the ship by a rescue boat about 10 minutes later. Now, police have released a more detailed account of how the miraculous rescue played out - and corrected some harmful online speculation, which erroneously claimed the dad had placed the girl on the railings himself for a photograph.
According to the new statement from the Broward Sheriff's Office, the five-year-old girl "lost her balance while sitting on a railing" and fell backwards through a porthole.
Her father didn't see the fall - but quickly jumped into the water to her rescue after her mother told him what had happened. The statement reads: "The incident occurred at approximately 11:30 a.m. Sunday, June 29, on deck 4 of a Disney cruise ship, while the ship was in international waters somewhere between the Bahamas and Port Everglades.
"Broward Sheriff's Office detectives continue to investigate the moments before a 5-year-old girl lost her balance while sitting on a railing and falling backward through a porthole. After the girl's mother alerted her husband, who didn't see the incident, he jumped into the ocean to save his daughter.
"BSO detectives said after the 37-year-old father found his daughter, he treaded water until they were rescued by a tender that was launched from the ship.
"The crew's 'man overboard' training and readiness paid off because they executed a successful ocean rescue. BSO investigators said the total time from the child's accidental fall to the rescue was about 20 minutes. Once rescued, the father and daughter were checked out by the ship's medical staff.
"And after the ship arrived Monday morning at Port Everglades, Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue transported them to an area hospital. The father was hospitalised. The family lives out of state. For the family's continued privacy, detectives are not releasing their names, where they live, or the details of the father's injury.
Police said an investigation into the incident continues, adding: "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 Disney Dream - a cruise ship with 14 decks and a capacity of 4,000 passengers - continued on to Florida as scheduled.
Falls from cruise ships are often fatal. One industry report in 2019 found that only nine of 25 people who fell overboard that year survived.
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