Passengers on a Disney Dream cruise ship have described the moment a horrified mom realized her five year-old daughter fell overboard.
The little girl plunged from the fourth deck of the $900 million Disney Dream on Sunday morning as it was returning to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, following a four-night cruise in the Bahamas.
Her mother screamed after she went into the water and then had to watch as her husband jumped 45ft to rescue her, according to witnesses. The dad had to tread water for up to 20 minutes before both were pulled aboard the ship’s rescue boat.
A post from a passenger on the cruise’s Facebook page said the mom was yelling “she's five and can't swim” when the accident happened, while other witnesses described her “terror” as the dramatic incident unfolded.
Shannon Lindholm, from Houston, was on the cruise with her husband and their two kids when she heard the “man overboard” announcement. She watched the rescue unfold from the fourth floor deck, where the girl is believed to have fallen from.
“I saw the mom's face of terror when she was waiting for them to be rescued, and I saw her face of relief when they brought them on board,” Lindholm told People.
“They brought her over, and obviously she was extremely relieved and incredibly grateful, and it was just very quick from there,” said Lindholm, adding that the rescue was “a miracle times two.”
Another passenger, Monica Shannon, was on vacation with her husband and young child and waiting to meet Disney princesses when the fall happened.
“I kind of see something really fast flew by, I didn't think anything of it,” Shannon told CBS News.
Shannon was on the third floor deck at the time, one below where the girl plunged from.
“I just figured it was maybe a part of the show or just the experience, but about five minutes later we heard that someone flew overboard,” she said.
Another passenger named Chandler told People magazine about the moment the girl hit the water.
“It sounded like hitting the pavement,” she said. “There was some kind of commotion ... Then this awful scream from what I assume is the mother and then this massive splash.”
Chandler said she was with her family when the commotion began, and “Mr. M.O.B.,” meaning man overboard, blared out over the ship’s intercom as it traveled between Nassau and Grand Bahama Island.
The woman said she didn’t think rescuers would be able to locate the dad and daughter, who have not yet been identified, and told her nine-year-old daughter Harper: “They were probably gone.”
Passenger Gar Frantz says he was near the fourth deck jogging track when the little girl fell.
“People were screaming, ‘the baby's in the water, the baby’s in the water,’” he recalled to the Daily Mail. “I thought they were dying.”
Video shared online shows the yellow rescue boat quickly bobbing through the waters to reach the father and daughter as horrifying onlookers watched from on top of the ship.
Travelers erupted into rapturous applause as the rescue teams threw out a rope for the pair to grab onto and safely pulled them onto the jetty.
“Everybody was cheering because you could see them lift them into the boat and they had the baby in their arms,” Frantz said.
The Broward County Sheriff’s Office praised the Disney crew for the successful effort.
“Clearly, their training and readiness paid off because they executed a successful ocean rescue,” it said in a statement. “This family is so blessed.”
BSO detectives don’t currently “suspect anything suspicious,” but they continue to investigate the circumstances that led to the child going overboard.
Disney Cruise Line commended its crew in a statement to People for “their exceptional skills and prompt actions,” adding, “this incident highlights the effectiveness of our safety protocols.”
