South Philadelphia woman describes chaotic scene after cruise ship waterslide breaks

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- A man was injured aboard Royal Caribbean's Icon of the Seas after an acrylic pane broke off a waterslide while he was using it, according to a passenger who witnessed the incident.

Erica Hunt, a South Philadelphia resident traveling with her family, said she saw the man bleeding after the slide cracked beneath him.

"Everyone was frantic, and the staff and they kind of just wheeled him away," Hunt said.

The incident occurred on Thursday afternoon while the ship was in the Bahamas. Hunt said her son had been waiting in line for the same slide just minutes before the accident.

"We were all on that slide that day. Minutes before, my son was actually waiting on line to get on that slide," she said.

Royal Caribbean confirmed the injured passenger was an adult male and said he is in stable condition. The company added that the slide has been closed for the remainder of the cruise pending an investigation.

"They do weigh you on the top of the slide before you get on," Hunt said. "They don't show your weight, but if it's green light or red light. Obviously, we got the green light and he went down."

Hunt believes the incident may have stemmed from a maintenance issue.

"The slide has been leaking. There is an adult pool below that, and it has been leaking, I can confirm that," she said. "It has been leaking the whole trip, right in that spot, so I think maybe it was just overlooked. Maybe it cracked and it missed it."

The injury follows another serious incident aboard the Icon of the Seas. On July 24, Royal Bahama Police recovered the body of a 35-year-old crewmember who had jumped overboard after allegedly stabbing a 28-year-old female coworker in the chest. She survived.

"Everyone is kind of on edge and the workers are nervous," Hunt said. "A lot of them are still on edge with the gentleman that went overboard last week. That was their friend."