Pictured: Toddler who fell 150ft to her death from cruise ship after 'slipping through grandfather's arms'
Yahoo Staff Writer
Jul 9th 2019 4:49AM
A toddler who fell 150ft to her death from the window of a cruise ship after reportedly slipping through her grandfather's arms has been named.
Chloe Wiegand, who was 18 months old, fell from the 11th deck of the Royal Caribbean's Freedom of the Seas vessel while it was docked in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on Sunday.
The child reportedly fell to the concrete below from the arms of her grandfather, Salvatore Anello, who is said to have slipped.
Chloe was travelling with her parents, Kimberly Schultz Wiegand and police officer Alan Wiegand, along with two siblings and two sets of grandparents after a week-long trip through the Caribbean.
Police in Puerto Rico said the family, from Indiana in the US, will remain there until an investigation into Chloe's death is completed.
Sergeant Nelson Sotelo said officers have not been able to interview any relatives yet. "They're in shock," he said.
He said Mr Anello, the child's maternal grandfather, from Valparaiso, Indiana, is under investigation. The rest of the family is from Granger, Indiana.
The police chief of South Bend, Indiana, Scott Ruszkowski, confirmed that the girl was the daughter of Mr Wiegand, one of its officers.
The department issued a statement saying it "asks the community to pray for the entire Wiegand family as they grieve and to respect their privacy".
Mr Ruszkowski disputed a statement issued by Puerto Rico police that the girl was being held out of an 11th floor window.
Royal Caribbean Cruises called it a tragic incident and said it was helping the family.
A spokeswoman said the ship departed from Puerto Rico on Monday for St Maarten on a new itinerary.
Passengers said they heard the girl's mother let out a "cry of pain" after the tragedy.
A passenger told Telemundo PR they heard "the screams of the families because we were close".
"I looked because of the mother's cry," the witness said. "That tonality, a scream of pain of that nature, does not compare with any other scream."
- This article first appeared on Yahoo
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