July 9 (UPI) — An Indiana toddler fell to her death over the weekend from the 11th-floor deck of a cruise ship in Puerto Rico, officials said.
The 18-month-old’s grandfather had set her on the window sill of the dining hall of the Freedom of the Seas, a Royal Caribbean cruise ship with a capacity of over 4,500 guests, when she fell Sunday, Port Authority spokesman Jose Carmon said, CNN reported.
When the accident occurred, the ship was docked in San Juan where the toddler and her family had traveled from the mainland.
Indiana’s South Bend Police Department tweeted a message Monday to Officer Alan Wiegand, the father of the toddler, expressing its condolences.
“The department asks the community to pray for the Wiegand family as they grieve and to respect their privacy,” the department said.
Not long after that tweet, the department admonished the public to “Please! stop speculating and creating non-factual narratives. And please, leave the family alone, they’ve more than enough to contend with while suffering…”
Puerto Rico Secretary for Public Affairs and Port Authority Executive Director Anthony Maceira confirmed the child’s death and said the Department of Public Security of Puerto Rico would be “working the issue with the seriousness and sensitivity required.”
“We pray to the Lord to fill this family with strength that today they live a true tragedy,” he said via Twitter.
