by Donald Wood
Last updated: 9:25 AM ET, Wed January 16, 2019
A 16-year-old male cruise passenger died last week after falling from an eighth-floor balcony on a Royal Caribbean ship docked in Haiti.
According to ABCNews.com, witnesses claim they saw the passenger, identified as Laurent Mercer of the Wallis and Futuna Islands, attempting to enter his room on the Harmony of the Seas through a nearby balcony last Friday when he slipped and fell.
Mercer was sailing with his family on a seven-day Caribbean voyage when the incident occurred. The Broward Medical Examiner's Office attempted CPR on the boy, but he had "sustained major head trauma and he was pronounced dead."
"We are saddened by the loss of one of our guests in a tragic accident," Royal Caribbean corporate communications manager Owen Torres said in a statement.
The Harmony of the Seas had departed from Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, days earlier and was docked in Labadee, Haiti, where Royal Caribbean owns a private resort.
The Royal Caribbean ship has seen its share of tragedy recently, as an employee working on the Harmony of the Seas went overboard on Christmas Day while sailing between Fort Lauderdale and St. Maarten.
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