14 DAY TRIAL // A 6-year-old boy has drowned while on a cruise with his parents, reports say. He lost his life on a Carnival Cruise ship, in the first incident of a child death documented by the company.
The family was returning from Miami, the Miami-Dade police and the Doral-based company confirm for the Miami Herald.
Qwentyn Hunter of Winter Garden in Central Florida, was swimming in the pool with his 10-year-old brother.
“Yesterday, Oct. 13, on board the Carnival Victory, while the ship was at sea on the last leg of a four-day Caribbean cruise, a six-year-old boy drowned in the midship pool. He was at the pool area with other family members at the time,” a Carnival spokesperson says in a statement.
Spokeswoman Jayme Weber tells the Los Angeles Times that the cruiseliners are not equipped with lifeguards. Therefore, children are not to be allowed in the pool by themselves.
"We do not have lifeguards on duty at our pools. [...] Parental supervision is required for children under 13," Weber says.
The incident took place on Sunday on the Carnival Victory, while 3,000 people were on board. The ship was completing a four-day Caribbean voyage.
He dove in the pool, went underwater but never resurfaced. He was spotted by other passengers, who tried to revive him but were not able to.
“I saw the little boy with his family, enjoying himself, and out of nowhere I heard all of this commotion and I realized it was the same little boy I had seen playing with his older brother and his mother and his father in the very shallow end of the pool.
“I actually lifted the boy up, I actually helped prop his body up into the proper position so they could perform CPR,” passenger Shaina Shaw recalls for CBS.