Cruise ship passenger dies in fall

**alphakitty** · 06-20-2007, 04:11 PM

A 22-year-old American man died this morning after falling four decks on board a cruise ship.

Police today named the man as Richard Malloy who was on board the Norwegian Majesty, berthed in St. George's.

According to a Police spokesman officers were called at 1.15a.m. today to a report of a passenger falling on the ship.

“On arrival at the location a short time later, officers spoke with the ship's captain, chief security officer and members of the ship's medical personnel, as well as the deceased's cousin, who is also a passenger on the ship,” said the spokesman.

He added: “It appears that Mr. Malloy had returned to the ship with his cousin after they had a few drinks together at a nearby St. George's bar.

“Around 12:25a.m. the men were on the fifth deck of the ship intending to go to the disco on the seventh deck when the 22-year-old American man fell from the fifth deck to the first deck.

“Two nurses on board attended the scene and discovered the victim in an unresponsive state. They immediately gave him CPR and tended to a head wound sustained from the fall.”

Mr. Malloy was taken to the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital where he died at 3.11a.m.

Inquiries into this incident are underway. The Bermuda Police Service extends its sincere condolences to the family and friends of the deceased.

* See the full story in tomorrow's Royal Gazette.
The Royal Gazette

**Ally** · 06-20-2007, 04:15 PM

That's two who have gone flying over the stair tower...a teenager did it back in March on an NCL ship. I cannot see how it can be done unless you are hanging over the side of the stair tower, as the stairs are usually in two stages tween decks, so making it impossible to fall from deck to deck like that.

**alphakitty** · 06-20-2007, 04:17 PM

Yes Ally, I remember that one too....it was a young girl. This has happened at our local mall a couple of times recently. Again, there was drinking involved. <sigh>

**Ally** · 06-20-2007, 04:20 PM

I was on Braemar shortly after the first accident like this. A couple of the crew and I were talking about how it could happen, and the only way is if someone is riding the bannister and loses their balance or they are physically leaning over the side of the stairs...calling up or down to a friend on a deck above or below...and again losing their balance. It is just not physically possible to roll down the stairs more than half a deck.

**Ally** · 06-21-2007, 04:32 AM

**Update** (Strange that the individual concerned was a risk manager...thinking the curiosity of 'what would happen if...?' got the better of him......)

The father of a young man who died this morning after falling more than 40ft on the cruise ship Norwegian Majesty says it was a tragic accident that has left the whole family devastated.

Richard Mulloy, 22, from Boston, was pronounced dead shortly after 3am after falling from the fifth deck after a night out in St. George's.

His dad, also called Richard, who was on the ship with more than 20 relatives, gave a tearful interview over the phone this afternoon saying: "I had a great son. He was everything that you could ask for."

Police say Mr. Mulloy, a risk inspector, was on his way to the ship's disco on the seventh deck when he fell and suffered a head wound. He was rushed to the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital but succumbed to his injuries at 3.11am.

His mom, Doreen, and dad were in bed when one of their nephews woke them up and told them what had happened. "It's still sinking in," his dad said.

"We'd been looking forward to this trip for quite a while; there was a group of about 25 family members. We'd all been having such a great time. It's just tragic."

He said his son was a "great kid" who loved being with his family.

The ship leaves Bermuda on Friday, but the family is in a state of shock and doesn't know when it will be leaving the island. Asked what happens next, Mr. Mulloy said: "I have no clue."

The police statement released this afternoon said: "Around 1.15 this morning, police received a report of a passenger falling onboard the cruise ship Norwegian Majesty docked at Ordinance Island in St. George's.

"On arrival at the location a short time later, officials spoke with the ship's captain, chief security officer and members of the ship's medical personnel, as well as the deceased's cousin, who is also a passenger on the ship.

"It appears that Mr. Mulloy had returned to the ship with his cousin after they had a few drinks together at a nearby St. George's establishment.

"Around 12.25am the men were on the fifth deck of the ship intending to go to the disco on the seventh deck when the 22 year-old American fell from the fifth deck to the first deck."

The statement continued: "Two nurses on board attended the scene and discovered the victim in an unresponsive state. They immediately gave him CPR and tended to a head wound sustained from the fall. Mr. Mulloy was then rushed to KEMH via ambulance where he subsequently succumbed to his injuries at 3.11am and was pronounced dead by an on-call physician."

Mr. Mulloy wanted to thank the cruise ship and the hospital. "They were very gracious," he said.

Inquiries continue.

**Ally** · 06-21-2007, 06:46 AM

The thing about this sort of accident is that you don't have to be drunk to fall down the side of a stair tower. If you are on the stairs at home, look up, or down, quickly then straight ahead, then often you will become dizzy. The same goes if you are talking to someone a deck or so above or below where you are on a stair tower....spacial disorientation...the brain sometimes cannot keep up with the angle of your head, you get dizzy and can easily lose your balance and fall over. Add alcohol to that and the effect can be many times worse and often results in serious injury or death, especially if the fall is a significant distance.

Aircraft pilots are prone to spacial disorientation, not know which way is up/straight and level. It is frequently found in fog/haze or at night where there are no markers such as lighting on the ground to use as a reference. Spacial disorientation is a frequent cause of aircrashes, usually fatal.

The effects are not just increased with alcohol, they can manifest themselves if you have a head cold, sinus problems or inner ear inbalance too....it's quite a nasty effect and can be fatal, as this case seems to show.

**alphakitty** · 06-21-2007, 11:07 AM

Very sad...what a tragedy. My heart goes out to the family.

**Ally** · 06-22-2007, 03:12 PM

It seems that the passenger concerned did try to slide down the banister on the stair tower, he lost his balance and fell down the side of the staircase. This information is from NCL.

**alphakitty** · 06-22-2007, 04:11 PM

As is usually the case, alcohol and immature, irresponsible behavior are often involved in accidents such as this. It's such a tragedy for the family, very sad. <sigh>