Cruise Ship Passenger Dies After Falling From Ship’s Mast

File photo of the Carnival Ecstasy shows the ship’s forward mast. Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

A passenger aboard a Carnival cruise ship has died after falling from the ship’s mast as the vessel approached PortMiami following a cruise.

Kendall Wernet, 20, of the Asheville, North Carolina and a student of Clemson University, died Monday morning after falling 20-feet off the forward mast of the Carnival Ecstasy.

Wernet and a group of about five or six others apparently entered the restricted area and climbed the up onto the ship’s mast reportedly to watch the sunrise as the ship docked in PortMiami. Wernet was reportedly knocked off the mast when the ship’s radar system kicked on.

A statement from Carnival said that the victim was initially treated by the ship’s medical team and later transferred to a local trauma center in Miami, where he later passed away.

According to USA Today, the group had seen a group climb up the mast the night before.

The 70,367 gross ton Carnival Ecstasy sails 2 to 5-day cruises to the Caribbean out of Miami, Florida and can accommodate 2,056 guests.

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