SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (NBC) – A family cruise turned tragic in Puerto Rico after an Indiana family’s toddler falls overboard and dies on the concrete pier below.
Police in Puerto Rico confirmed that a 1-year-old girl slipped from her grandfather’s arms and fell to her death from the eleventh story of a ship docked in Puerto Rico.
An investigation continues and the child’s family will stay in the U.S. territory until authorities complete their work.
They said no relatives have been interviewed yet, but confirm the child’s maternal grandfather, Salvatore Anello of Valparaiso, Indiana, is under investigation.
Police said the girl was traveling with her parents, two siblings and two sets of grandparents aboard Royal Caribbean’s “Freedom of the Seas”, which docked in Puerto Rico Sunday after a weeklong trip through the Caribbean.
The death occurred Sunday afternoon at the Panamerican dock in the capital of San Juan.
The police chief of South Bend, Indiana, confirmed, and it was also posted on the police department’s social media, that the girl was the daughter of one of their officers.
Royal Caribbean Cruises called it a tragic incident and said it was helping the family.
A company spokeswoman said the ship departed Puerto Rico Monday for St. Maarten on a new itinerary and declined further comment.
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