Parents often go above and beyond for their children. I can recall numerous times when my mom supported me through challenges that, honestly, she didn’t have to. One father took this commitment to an extraordinary level when he jumped into the water after his daughter fell off a cruise ship in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. I can’t even look at large bodies of water without shuddering, so I can’t imagine plummeting hundreds of feet into the ocean to try and rescue another person.
In the above video, you can see a rescue boat lifting crew members and a father-daughter duo. The girl had allegedly fallen off the Disney Dream Cruise heading to the Caribbean from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, immediately after it happened, her father jumped to her rescue. The ship’s own rescue team quickly came to the rescue as well, according to the original poster. After the very first siren went off alerting the crew, they had boats in the water and had found the two within 20 minutes.
It’s unclear exactly how the young girl plummeted into the ocean from the cruise ship. Some videos circulating TikTok about the incident allege that the father was balancing his daughter on the ship’s railing before she lost her balance. Regardless of what happened, he knew what had to be done and would rather risk his own life than not try rescuing his daughter at all. Commenters on the video agree, with one person saying, “As a parent we rather die trying.”
Fortunately, the man and his daughter were found completely unharmed after falling into the ocean and being exposed to the rough waves. However, it remains uncertain whether the family will face charges for the negligent use of the railing and for using the ship’s emergency services in a situation that could have been avoided.
