Boy, eight, fighting for life after being found underwater in cruise ship swimming pool
The youngster was airlifted to hospital after he was found underwater on The Royal Caribbean
AN eight-year-old boy is fighting for life after he nearly drowned in a swimming pool on board a cruise liner.
The youngster, who has not been named, had to be airlifted to hospital after a doctor performed CPR on him.
The lad was on board the Royal Caribbean liner Anthem of the Seas with his family when the incident happened.
His motionless body was spotted in the pool and it is thought he had been underwater for between eight and ten minutes.
According to the New York Police Department, he was airlifted on to Staten Island University Hospital on Thursday night.
WCBS reported the ship had been travelling from Bayonne, New Jersey, to the Caribbean – and was around five to ten miles from shore.
A spokeswoman for Royal Caribbean, Cynthia Martinez, told CNN the family, who are from Maryland, had got off the liner when the ship returned to port.
The Anthem of the Seas has been forced to return to shore three times this year – in February it was caught in a huge storm in the Atlantic.
Passengers had to stay in their cabins for 12 hours as the ship was tossed on huge waves and encountered 125 mph winds.
It then had an outbreak of the novovirus less than a month later, and was forced to return to shore again.