Miami Injury Lawyer Blog
Two young boys, ages four and six, had to be rescued from a cruise ship swimming pool off the coast of North Carolina Monday. The six-year-old boy was revived and transported to a hospital; the four-year-old boy was pronounced dead. Norwegian Cruise Line posted on its Facebook page that the ship’s emergency medical team responded to a report that two children were unresponsive on the pool deck and upon arrival, the responders quickly performed CPR. The Facebook post stated that “after extensive efforts, the younger child could not be revived.”
The ship was on its way to Florida and then on to the Bahamas at the time of the incident. It was unknown whether the two boys who were found unresponsive were related. The surviving boy was airlifted with his grandmother and a cruise ship nurse to CarolinaEast Medical Center. He was later transferred to Vidant Medical Center located in Greenville. A spokesman for the hospital reported that the boy’s parents did not wish to share the boy’s condition with the public. The incident occurred on the Norwegian Breakaway, an eighteen-deck ship with a capacity of 4,000 passengers. It is one of the company’s newest ships and its home port is located in Manhattan. The ship offers numerous pool areas, including an aqua park with a children’s play area. The ship also offers a supervised program for children between the ages of three and seventeen called Splash Academy.
AnneMarie Matthews, a spokeswoman for Norwegian, declined to state at which pool the children were discovered. She also declined to release information concerning whether the children were attending the Splash Academy program or were supervised by their family members at the time of the incident. Most pools aboard cruise ships are not watched by lifeguards and swimming is at the guest’s own risk. According to a personal injury lawyer who commented on the incident, cruise ships should assign lifeguards to their pools. “They know that the pool deck is a very distracting area. They’re selling drinks, there’s activities going on, and people can be distracted. That includes parents watching children.”
1 child dies, 1 hospitalized after cruise incident www.palmbeachpost.com February 4, 2013
Pools pose one of the most dangerous hazards for children. Drowning accidents on cruise ships have become all too common for young children, who are not well-equipped to handle all of the potential risks lurking in swimming pools. The Miami Beach child injury attorneys at the Friedland | Carmona understand how emotionally difficult it is to watch your child fight for his or her life after a near-drowning. The Fort Lauderdale swimming pool/drowning accident attorneys have over twenty years of experience helping families recover after these devastating accidents. If you or a loved one has suffered an injury on board a cruise ship, call (305) 661-2008 today for your free consultation!
The Miami personal injury attorneys at the Friedland | Carmona handle all types cruise ship injury cases throughout the state of Florida, including Boca Raton, Homestead, North Miami, South Miami, Miami Beach, Coral Gables, Pembroke Pines, Hialeah, Kendall, Aventura, Fort Lauderdale and Palm Beach. The Friedland | Carmona handles all types of personal injury claims, including slip and falls, defective products, medical malpractice, motor vehicle accidents and construction site injuries. Call today and let our family take care of your family!