I
too was on the Conquest this past
week. These are the details I was told. (Realize of course
that there was a lot of rumors circulating and this is what I believed
happened. I have talked to many people about this. But most
of the information is third hand.)
A
couple was on the lido deck (9)
"fighting." Security was called. It appears that the male
was her boy friend and they were "fighting" because he had tryst with
her daughter who was also on board. They weren't fighting as much
as he was trying to keep her from jumping. When security arrives,
they assumed the man was fighting the woman and pulled the man
off. The woman then jumped off the back of the ship.
(Security evidently called the bridge at this time and this is when
they turned hard. So hard that at least one pool flooded some
cabins. I was told that this was the procedure when someone jumps
so that the ship would try to avoid the body in the prop.)
The
woman did not make it in the
water. She landed in a cabin's balcony on deck 6 I did talk
to some one who saw the blood and said there was lots of it. My
sister also talked to a lady next door and she said she had blood run
in to her balcony.
The
ship gave a vague description over
the intercom (even killing the sound on the TV's) and asked any
witnesses to call the purser. They also called out a code
when the event took place. I believe they said the room number
where the lady landed then "blue star".
The
scheduled events went on without
interruption. (Which I believe they should.)
We were aboard the Conquest when the death occured and actually
saw the woman's body on the balcony. We were enroute to Deck 9
(Lido Deck) rear when the announcement came "Operation Bright Star
Cabin 6547", then the ship made a sharp 90 degree turn, the water from
the pool on back of the ship flooded the rear deck rapidly. As we
entered the deck area, we heard a woman had jumped or fallen from Deck
10 off the back of the ship, but everyone thought she had gone
overboard. We immediately proceeded to the windows on the back of
the deck area and looked down, where at that time we noticed a woman
with dark hair and approximately in her late 30's or early
40's, who at first glance appeared to be lying on her back on the
balcony, then we noticed the growing blood pool coming from the back of
her head. I personally could not bear to look any longer, but my
husband obsevered enough to see a ship's officer and photographer near
her body. Security and the ship's officers were able to close off
ALL of the rear deck areas within about 10 to 15 minutes of the initial
announcement. The cruise staff seemed to have handled the
situation with the utmost professional attitude at the time.
Oct. 1, 2006, 8:30PM
Woman dies from fall on cruise ship in Gulf
Associated Press
GALVESTON — A 48-year-old woman died from a fall on a cruise ship
operated by Carnival Corp., the company said.
The woman, whose name was not released by the cruise line, was seen
jumping from one of the ship's upper outside decks and landing on a
cabin balcony today, the Miami-based company said in a news release.
The ship, called the Carnival Conquest, was concluding a seven-day
Caribbean cruise that made stops in Montego Bay, Grand Cayman and
Cozumel. It returned to Galveston on Sunday.
The company said the woman was traveling with her spouse. Carnival
did not provide any other details.
Cruise passenger John Bayer, of Purmela, said he could see the woman
lying three levels below where he was on the ninth level. He said he
did not see the woman's fall, which he said occurred about 3 p.m. as
the ship was entering the Gulf of Mexico.
Carnival said it has notified authorities. The U.S. Coast Guard did
not immediately return phone calls seeking details of its investigation.