A YOUNG GIRL who died after plunging 150ft from a cruise ship in Puerto Rico may have been murdered.
18-month-old toddler Chloe Wiegan fell from the 11th deck of the Freedom of the Seas liner as it was docked at the Pan American Pier II in San Juan at around 4.30pm local time (9.30pm GMT) on Sunday.
She landed on the concrete port below and was taken to a local hospital, but was tragically pronounced dead a short time later.
According to local outlet Primera Hora, she was from Indiana in the United States and was vacationing with her parents, younger brother and paternal grandparents at the time.
Initial reports suggested she had slipped from the arms of her grandfather, Salvatore Anello but the family’s lawyer, Michael Winkleman, has rebuffed this notion.
Speaking to DailyMail.com the acting head of the San Juan Police Department's Homicide Division, Sgt Jose D. Sanchez, suggested the possibility of foul play.
"There are various possibilities. It could be a homicide,” he said.
"It could be a murder. It could be an accident.
"We are currently in the very early stages of the investigation.
"We haven't ruled out any possibility.
"We are doing a professional, thorough investigation into the events to explain the death of this little girl.
"As police officers our duty lies with the victim."
According to the Anello’s lawyer, her grandfather placed her on a railing that he believed was behind a pane of glass.
In this instance, tragically, there was no glass, so when she went bang on the window as she would when watching her brother play ice hockey, she instead fell through to her death.
Winkleman told NBC: "Essentially her grandfather lifts her up and puts her on a railing and where he thinks that there is glass there because it's clear, but it turns out there was no glass there.
"She goes to bang on the glass like she would have at one of those hockey rinks, and the next thing you know, she's gone."
