Passengers Hit by Freak Waterfall as Cruise Ship Steers to Avoid Raft—Video

There was an unexpected waterfall aboard Royal Caribbean International's Harmony of the Seas on Tuesday, after the vessel took emergency action to avoid a suspected refugee raft, causing one of its swimming pools to overflow.

Footage posted on social media shows water cascading down the ship from Deck 15, where the overflow took place, all the way down to Deck 8, where another swimming pool was located.

There were no reports of any injuries or serious damage during the incident, after which the cruise liner was able to continue on its journey.

Harmony of the Seas was heading towards Cozumel in Mexico, after visiting Royal Caribbean's private Caribbean island of CocoCay on Monday.

Cruise Hive reported that the crew spotted a raft as they made their way through the Straits of Florida, and the ship turned hard to avoid a collision.

That caused water in a swimming pool on Deck 15 to overflow, falling down several floors to Deck 8 to the horror of passengers.

Speaking to Newsweek, a spokesperson for Royal Caribbean said: "On Tuesday, January 3, Harmony of the Seas spotted a raft at sea and maneuvered to provide assistance. This maneuver unexpectedly caused water from the pool deck to go over into a lower deck of the ship.

"Fortunately, this was immediately managed and cleaned up by our crew, and there were no injuries or any damage. The 7-night Caribbean cruise continued to the next destination as planned.

"The raft was empty, and Royal Caribbean provided details to the U.S. Coast Guard."

According to Cruise Hive, the water most likely came from Harmony of the Seas' Beach Pool, situated on Deck 15, as the overflow came from the ship's starboard side. The publication speculated that some water could also have come from the Splashaway Bay attraction, which is also situated on Deck 15.

Cruise Hive said the ship's crew were seen "cleaning up the spillage and drying out the deck to minimize any after effects" immediately after the incident.

Under international maritime law, cruise ships are legally obliged to offer assistance to any refugee vessels they come across, which can include taking the refugees onboard if their boat or raft looks unstable. A number of refugees, seeking to escape from Cuba to Florida, have been picked up by cruise liners over the past few weeks.

In September, four Cuban migrants were rescued by the U.S. Border Patrol off the coast of Florida, after their vessel sank.

Royal Caribbean also owns Wonder of the Seas, the largest cruise liner ever built, which is capable of holding 6,988 passengers and 2,300 crew.

The cruise industry was badly hit by the coronavirus pandemic, which saw largescale outbreaks on a number of ships as the disease started spreading across the world during the first half of 2020.