FBI Rules Cruise Ship Death a Suicide

www.khou.com October 2, 2006
Associated Press
GALVESTON, Texas -- The FBI has ruled that the death of a woman on a Carnival cruise ship was a suicide. A 48-year-old woman died from a fall on a cruise ship, 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 Saturday, 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.