Unbearably tragic cruise ship accident leaves toddler dead in Puerto Rico. Video / CBS 10
The family of an Indiana toddler who fell 150ft to her death from a Royal Caribbean cruise ship on Sunday have blamed the liner for her death, saying she died by falling through a window which had been left open in the kids' play area, and have shared photos of it to prove how difficult it is to spot.
Chloe Wiegand died after falling from the Freedom of the Seas ship onto a concrete dock in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on Sunday afternoon.
Local officials initially said she had been in her grandfather Salvatore 'Sam' Anello's arms and that he lost his grip on her.
The window on the left is the one Chloe fell through while being held against the railing by her grandfather. This photograph was taken by Chloe's father after the accident. Photo / Supplied
They were on the 11th floor of the ship where there is a kids' pool known as the 'H2O zone'. It is an outdoor play area but is encased by two walls of windows on either side.
On Tuesday, a lawyer hired by the family revealed that Anello had put Chloe up on a wooden railing to let her bang on the glass, as she loved to do at her older brothers' ice hockey games in Indiana, not realizing that the window was in fact open.
When she leaned forward to pound her hands on it, she went straight through the open space and plummeted to the ground below, letting out a "blood curdling" scream as she fell, according to witnesses.
An exterior view of the window. Photo / Supplied
The lawyer said that Anello simply did not see that the window had been slid open when he propped Chloe up against it and that he "absolutely had not" been drinking.
"We've all had that experience where someone walks into a glass door thinking it's not there. This is the inverse of that," Michael Winkleman, the lawyer, said on Tuesday.
In photos shared with DailyMail.com, the 11th floor window can be seen next to others that are closed. They were taken by Chloe's father after she had fallen.
Describing what happened at a press conference in Miami, Winkleman said Chloe and her grandfather were playing in the area when he saw the windows and decided to take her over to them.
"The grandfather is with Chloe, they're playing and there's this wall of all windows, it's all glass windows.
Chloe used to love to bang on the glass at her brother's ice hockey games, so her grandfather takes her over to the windows, he thinks it's all glass.
There's a wood railing along there, he puts her on that thinking she's going to bang on the glass and it's going to be great, and the next thing he knows, she's gone," he said.
He did not say why Anello thought it was open but said: "He literally thought it was all glass. Clearly, he was wrong."
Asked if the grandfather had been drinking, he added: "There was absolutely no alcohol involved, Sam is not a drinker."
Chloe Wiegand watching an ice hockey game. Photo / Supplied
Winkleman called it a "preventable tragedy" and said the window should never have been open so high up.
"What was preventable here was really, why would you ever put windows that passengers could open.
It was reasonable for him to think this was all glass.
Her distraught grandfather, right with her, had to be sedated after her tragic fall. Photo / Supplied
Local officials told El Vocero, a Puerto Rican newspaper, that Anello and Chloe's parents had to be sedated afterwards because they were so distraught.
According to Winkleman, after the accident he kept muttering: "I thought it was like she was at a hockey game."
The lawyer said the family, who are still in Puerto Rico, want to "shine a light" on the kind of child Chloe was.
"She was such a happy and loving child," he said.
Devastated: The 18-month-old with mother Kimberley Wiegand. Photo / Supplied
In a statement, Royal Caribbean said on Monday that it was "deeply saddened" by the accident.
"We've made our Care Team available to assist the family with any resources they need. Out of respect for their privacy, we do not plan to comment further on the incident," it said.
