Father jumps off Disney cruise ship to save five-year-old daughter
Footage posted on social media showed the father clinging to his daughter while treading water for 10 minutes.
The young girl fell from the fourth deck of the Disney Dream as her father took her picture against a railing, witnesses said.
The ship was returning to Florida following a four-night cruise in the Bahamas when the emergency code 'Mr MOB', meaning man overboard, sounded over the intercom.
A bright yellow rescue boat was quickly lowered into the ocean before jetting off to the pair and pulling them onboard.
Fellow passengers then began to clap and cheer as rescue teams returned them to the cruise ship.
Laura Amador, a passenger onboard the ship, told CBS News: 'The ship was moving quickly, so quickly. It's crazy how quickly the people became tiny dots in the sea, and then you lost sight of them.
'The captain slowed the ship and turned it around, and then they deployed a tender ship with people on it to go get them, and we saw them rescue the dad and daughter.'
Another passenger, Gar Frantz, told NBC News that they watched the two family members enter the ocean before nearly disappearing into the horizon.
'We watched it, you could see two little things... it was crazy, it was horrific,' he said.
Given the time of the year, the water in the North Atlantic would have likely felt warm, posing a minimal risk of hypothermia during their short time in the ocean.
Disney confirmed in a statement that two passengers were rescued but offered no further details.
A Disney Cruise Line spokesman said: 'The crew aboard the Disney Dream swiftly rescued two guests from the water.
'We commend our crew members for their exceptional skills and prompt actions, which ensured the safe return of both guests to the ship within minutes.'
Cruise ships tend to be equipped with overboard detection systems that activate when incidents occur in real time.
Some 25 people fell overboard from cruise ships in 2019, with just nine being rescued, according to a Cruise Lines International Association report.
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