Royal Caribbean refuses to take blame for man who went overboard

The spouse of a man who went overboard and is now presumed dead a Royal Caribbean cruise ship is fighting with the company about the circumstances of his death.

Bernardo Elbaz’s fall was captured in a chilling video, after he had apparently fallen from the seventh deck of the ship onto a lifeboat one deck below. The video shows him clinging to a metal support beam as other passengers watched and screamed until he eventually lost his grip and falls overboard.

Elbaz’s husband, Erik Elbaz, insists that Bernardo had jumped to his death because of how devastated and upset he was for repeatedly being told anti-gay slurs by crew members. The Broward County Sheriff’s Office has ruled the death a suicide, citing a reported domestic disturbance on board.

Erik Elbaz’s lawyer, Michael Winkleman, asserts that the man didn’t jump when he went overboard, and that the video proves that both of Bernardo Elbaz’s falls were results of failures by Royal Caribbean staff.

Royal Caribbean disputed this assertion in a statement that said, “The attorney’s disproven claims that our security staff had any culpability in this tragedy are shameful and offensive.”