21 NOV: Celebrity Cruises has canceled all parasailing excursions in the Caribbean indefinitely after a passenger died on one of the trips last week, the Virgin Islands Daily News reports.
Celebrity Eclipse passenger Bernice Kraftcheck, 60, fell to her death on Tuesday while parasailing in tandem with her daughter off the coast of St Thomas, where the ship was docked, the paper says.
Ms Kraftcheck’s daughter, 34-year-old Danielle Haese, was seriously injured during the incident.
The two were on a ship-sponsored excursion which allows two riders at a time to soar 130 metres above the water for about 10 minutes, at a cost of $79 a person.
The Daily News says squalls and wind gusts in St Thomas on Tuesday afternoon may have been a factor in the incident.
An official investigation is under way.
Carnival is also reported to have cancelled parasailing excursions in St Thomas, but it’s not clear whether the move applies to other areas of the Caribbean.
