‘Suspicious death’ of woman on Carnival Sunshine cruise ship under investigation

The FBI has opened an investigation into the “suspicious death” of a passenger traveling from South Carolina to the Bahamas aboard a Carnival Sunshine cruise ship.

The 44-year-old woman, who was not identified, was found unresponsive by crewmembers not long after the ship departed from Charleston on Feb. 27, according to a statement from the FBI Columbia field office. Despite their best efforts to revive her, she was pronounced dead on the scene.

Her death likely occurred in the early morning hours of Feb. 28, Kevin Wheeler, public affairs specialist for the FBI’s Columbia field office, told NBC News. The agency noted there was no threat to any other passengers throughout the five-day cruise, calling the woman’s death an isolated incident.

The woman had been traveling with her husband, who disembarked once the cruise arrived in Nassau on March 1. His wife’s remains were also taken from the ship.

Investigators with the FBI’s Evidence Response Team processed the passenger’s room as evidence once the ship returned to Charleston as planned on March 4, according to the agency.

A Carnival Cruise Line spokesperson told People the company was “fully cooperating” with the FBI probe as well as with “authorities in the Bahamas and Charleston.”

“The FBI joined Carnival Sunshine upon its return to Charleston on Saturday to conduct an investigation into the death of a guest,” the spokesperson said. “Bahamian authorities have already investigated the circumstances and are conducting an autopsy.”

Nobody has been taken into custody in connection with the death and few other details have been provided.

Wheeler declined to provide the specific cause of death.

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