An investigation into what happened to a passenger on a Royal Caribbean cruise ship is underway. The passenger died after allegedly going on a drunken rampage through the cruise ship.
Staff ended up detaining the unruly passenger after he allegedly assaulted Royal Caribbean cruise members. During his drunken fit, the passenger also allegedly threatened other passengers on the ship as well. As with any drunken outbursts at sea, the man ended up in the brig or in this case detainment on the ship.
He later died on the ship in detainment. His family claims that Royal Caribbean security injected him with a sedative before subduing him. According to FOX 11. Michael Virgil became violently intoxicated and assaulted two crew members. His outburst came less than an hour after the Navigator of the Sea left San Pedro.
He allegedly punched one staff member and kicked the other. "The gentleman that was drunk said that he was going to kill us," fellow traveler Christifer Mikhail told the station. "He started chasing us down the hallway."
Royal Caribbean Passenger Dies
According to Mikhail, a crew member locked himself in a towel closet to avoid the drunken passenger. From there, a video shows Virgil violently trying to kick open the door while screaming and also removing his shirt.
"I was kind of scared," Mikhail said. "I'm stuck in this hallway. He could've flicked me and thrown me like 30 feet because the guy he punched kinda flew a couple feet back."
Following the video, several Royal Caribbean security staff came to the scene. They managed to detain Virgil and locked him up using pepper spray, zip ties, and handcuffs. Unfortunately, he died just an hour after being detained. His family said that the security team injected him with a sedative to calm him down.
What caused the drunken rampage remains to be seen. Virgil had been on the cruise with his 7-year-old autistic son and his fiancé. His family said that it was unlike him to act like this.
"He didn't deserve to die over it," a relative told the station.
Exactly what caused his death remains to be seen.
"We are saddened by the passing of one of our guests," Royal Caribbean said in a statement to FOX 11. "We offered support to the family and are working with authorities on their investigation."
