Carnival Cruise Drowning Accidental, Boy, 6, Dies On Ship

Carnival Cruise Lines confirmed the drowning death of a six-year-old boy aboard one of its ships over the weekend, in one of the Carnival Victory’s pools.

The child was vacationing on the Carnival ship with his family, and has been identified as Qwentyn Hunter of Winter Garden, Florida.

Hunter was swimming with his brother, 10, at approximately 4:45 PM Sunday, when the accident occurred. Fellow passenger Debi Ciavarella recalls the incident:

“I was sitting at the pool and we heard the DJ say ‘get the, there’s a child in the pool,’ and then a guy jumped in and picked him up and then they were doing chest compressions and stuff on him… It was all so devastating.”

A local news source reports:

“According to Detective Javier Baez of the Miami-Dade Police Department, the 6-year-old boy was playing with his older brother, possibly in a pool on board the Carnival Cruise Ship Victory on Sunday when he took water in… People tried to rescue him, according to Baez, but he died on the ship.”

Another person claiming to have witnessed the Carnival drowning spoke with a friend, who posted to a Cruise board:

“DJ Alex spotted something floating in the pool. A passenger dove in and got child out. Paramedics, crew and one passenger worked on this child for 30 minutes as passengers looked on in horror.”

Carnival Cruises addressed the drowning in a statement, no mention of which was made on the brand’s social accounts including Twitter and Facebook. The statement was equally difficult to pin down on the web, where it did not appear on the Carnival Cruise Lines press release pages.

In the statement regarding the onboard fatality, Carnival Cruises said:

“Carnival extends its heartfelt sympathy to the family during this very difficult time. The company’s CareTeam is providing assistance and support.”

Carnival Victory docked in Miami Monday morning, and crime scene tape surrounded the site of the fatal incident.