Royal Caribbean cruise ship with baby crash [AP=연합뉴스]
– A man in his 50s, who accidentally drowned his 18-month-old granddaughter in the sea while on a Caribbean cruise with his family, escaped imprisonment.
U.S. media including NBC cited an announcement by the U.S. Puerto Rico legal authority on the 8th (local time), and in July 2019, a local court ordered Salvatore Anello, 52, the accused of the death of a baby fall aboard a cruise ship anchored in San Juan, Puerto Rico. It was reported that the three-year probation judgment was issued. The lawyer said Anello would be probated in Indiana.
According to police, baby Chloe Wigand, who played with her grandfather in a restaurant on the 11th floor of the then-Royal Caribbean cruise ship The Freedom of the Seas, died 35 meters from a large window. It happened when Chloe’s mother, Kimberly, who was staying with Chloe at the children’s pool, asked Anello to see her for a while.
José Carmona, a spokesman for the local port authorities, said, “At the time of the accident, the child’s grandfather was playing with the child sitting on the window, but it seems that the child fell out of balance and died from the shock. Was open.”
The deceased parties were traveling in the Caribbean with their parents, siblings, and four grandparents, and were disfigured after arriving in Puerto Rico the day before. The cruise was scheduled to depart at 8:30 this evening for 7 days of sailing. The accident occurred around 5:30 pm that day. It is known that about 4,500 people, including sailors, were on the cruise ship the family boarded.
Puerto Rico prosecutors charged Anello for negligence three months after the accident, and Anello was arrested and imprisoned before being released on bail.
He initially claimed innocence, but pleaded guilty in October of last year on condition of avoiding jail time and receiving probation in his Indiana state.
After the probation decision, Anello said, “On the one hand, I am angry, but on the other hand I feel relieved. I comfort the fact that I don’t have to go to jail, and that my family can end one period and move on to the next.”
He believed that the railing where the accident occurred was made of a glass wall, and that he had never thought that the windows could be open, and that “there were no warning signs around.”
He said, “I miss my granddaughter very much,” and said, “I will do my best in a lawsuit for damages against the shipping company in the future.”
Parents of babies Alan Wigand and Kimberly have filed a civil lawsuit claiming responsibility for their daughter’s death, claiming that there are problems with the safety standards of the cruise ship company Royal Caribbean.
However, the prehistory said, “I cannot have known that Anello had the window open. The baby’s death is just a tragic accident,” he denies responsibility.
Reporter Bae Jae-seong [email protected]
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