A woman has died after falling overboard on a cruise ship as her body was recovered in the sea.
The 36-year-old passenger, who has not been identified, was returning to Florida from the Bahamas on Thursday when she tragically plunged overboard on the MSC Meraviglia cruise ship, according to authorities.
Her body was recovered by the US Coast Guard on Thursday morning around 18 miles from Port Canaveral, Florida.
The cruise ship was returning to Florida from Ocean Cay in the Bahamas when the tragic incident occurred.
Authorities quickly launched the Coast Guard by boat and helicopter but the passenger's injuries were fatal.
Field Sutton, director of communications at MSC Cruises, said in a statement: “Unfortunately, despite the rapid rescue operation, the passenger sustained fatal injuries. We are offering our full support to authorities as they investigate this matter.”
An investigation into the woman's death is underway.
The cruise ship death comes just weeks after James Michael Grimes fell overboard on a Thanksgiving cruise.
James had been spending Thanksgiving on the five-day cruise with 18 members of his family, including his parents and sister - as the ship travelled towards Cozumel, Mexico.
The 28-year-old, who had just won an air-guitar competition on the ship in the evening, had been drinking alcohol in the day and consumed "tonnes" of booze but "couldn't really say" how much he drank.
However, he denied he was drunk.
The passenger thinks he fell overboard which knocked him unconscious and quickly woke up in the freezing cold water where he spent 15 hours.
He claimed he fought off a shark during his time in the ocean.
James said: "I thought it was a shark. I mean, I was swimming in one direction and looked around I seen it out the corner of my eye and it came up on me really quick and went under and I could see it and it wasn't a shark.
"But it had more like a flat mouth and came up and bumped one of my legs and I kicked it with the other leg. It scared me not knowing what it was or, at the time, how big it was.
"All I could see was a fin."
James removed his socks and waved them about in the air in order to try and attract the light of the Coast Guard who came to his rescue on November 24.
He was rushed to hospital New Orleans where he was treated for his injuries.
The passenger claims he lost 20 pounds during the traumatic ordeal after spending 15 hours in the freezing cold waters.
