Royal Caribbean Crew Member Dead After Falling Overboard from Ship on Which He Worked
Royal Caribbean Cruise Line has announced that earlier this month a crew member on one of its cruise ships fell overboard and was later pronounced dead.
The Miami Herald reports that the victim, 35-year-old Mansley Pereira, was working on the Rhapsody of the Seas cruise ship on September 22 when he fell overboard. The ship was docked at Dubrovnik, Croatia at the time.
In a statement, Royal Caribbean said “ship personnel were alerted to the incident and immediately deployed lifeboats, initiated recovery procedures, and alerted local authorities.” The company did not indicate the exact time of Pereira’s death, nor did it provide details about the circumstances surrounding his falling overboard.
Pereira, originally from India, was married with two children. Indian news organization Heraldgoa.in reports that Pereira died under mysterious circumstances, after having spoken to family members in the moments leading up to his fall. “Mansley had spoken to his family on Sunday night and it is being told that he died late in the evening,” the report says.
The Herald Goa report also indicates that Royal Caribbean is claiming that Pereira jumped overboard in order to commit suicide, an assertion to which his uncle takes exception. Fredrick Borges told the Herald Goa that there is no chance that his nephew committed suicide, adding “He was a dedicated and hardworking employee and had got several promotions in a short while.”
Every year several cruise ship crew members fall from the ships on which they work or are otherwise killed while working. In one of the most tragic of these incidents, in 2013 five cruise ship crew members were killed during a safety drill in the Canary Islands.
Attorney John H. (Jack) Hickey and his team handle a wide range of cases, including but not limited to cruise ship accidents, admiralty and maritime accident cases, medical malpractice, wrongful death, premises liability, railroad accidents and car accidents. We represent victims from all over the nation, the world and the state of Florida.