8-Year-Old Nearly Drowns Aboard Cruise Ship

July 1, 2016

An 8-year-old boy was rushed to hospital last night [June 30] after being found unresponsive in a swimming pool aboard the Royal Caribbean cruise ship Anthem of the Seas shortly after the vessel left New Jersey.

The child had reportedly been without oxygen for 18 minutes, leaving him in critical condition.

A CBS story said, “An 8-year-old boy was being rushed to the hospital late Thursday after being found unresponsive in a swimming pool on a cruise ship in the Atlantic Ocean.”

Fox News report on the incident:


“At around 8 p.m. Thursday, the boy was found in the swimming pool on the ship, Anthem of the Seas. The child had gone without oxygen for 18 minutes, officials told CBS2.

“The ship had left Bayonne, New Jersey, earlier in the evening, and was five to 10 miles offshore from Breezy Point, Queens, when the child was found, Joe Biermann reported from Chopper 2.”

A story in the New York Daily News said, “The unidentified 8-year-old fell into a pool on Royal Caribbean’s Anthem of the Seas on Thursday evening and remained in the water for eight to 10 minutes before being discovered by ship officials, Coast Guard Senior Chief Steven Allard said.”

“He said that either a doctor or a nurse had performed CPR on the ship and established a pulse.”

“FDNY officials confirmed to the Daily News that a victim had been airlifted from a ship four miles off of Sandy Hook, N.J., to Staten Island University Hospital. He was in critical condition late Thursday, according to a hospital spokesman.

“Royal Caribbean said in a statement that the 8-year-old “was treated by the ship’s medical team after an accident in one of the ship’s swimming pools, but required additional medical attention.”

ABC-Channel 7 News NY says that the “little boy remains on life-support.”

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Comments (4)

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  1. LOLOLOLOLOLOL says:

    Brain can survive for 6 minutes without oxygen! Have mercy on his soul!!

  2. aceboy says:

    How horrible. 18 minutes w/o oxygen is not good at all.

  3. Cranberry says:

    Kids are tough…

  4. Arthur-Atlanta says:

    Ok I will ask the question everyone wants to know.
    “Where was the parents/guardians?” A 8 yr old roaming a cruise ship alone? The ship had just left port. Sad but the truth is, (just like on land) a cruise ship with hundreds of strangers is no place for a 8 yr old to be left alone.
    Wow!