Mystery surrounds how a young girl fell off a Disney cruise ship before her father dived in to save her in front of horrified passengers.

The five-year-old tumbled from the fourth deck of the Disney Dream, a $900 million cruise ship, at around 11 a.m. on Sunday while it was en route from the Bahamas to Fort Lauderdale.

Hundreds of passengers watched as the pair were dramatically rescued by the ship’s crew after the brave dad kept his daughter afloat for 20 minutes.

Without any public accounts from witnesses who observed her fall, there is much speculation concerning how the young girl fell 45 to 50 feet into the sea.

Online, the father’s reputation shifted from hero to villain amid accusations that he placed his daughter on a 42.5-inch (3.5ft) railing for a photograph, which led to her falling backward off the ship.

Passenger Gar Frantz said when he rushed to the edge of the fourth deck moments after the pair went overboard, he heard that story from nearby passengers as they watched the rescue.

‘They said the dad lifted his daughter onto the railing and she fell off, then he jumped in straight after her,’ the holidaymaker told the Daily Mail.

‘People were screaming, “the baby’s in the water, the baby’s in the water”, and then they said, “and the dad jumped in”.’

A five-year-old girl sits on the ship’s doctor’s knee after she and her father were rescued after falling into the ocean from the Disney Dream cruise ship on Sunday morning

The father (left) jumped in seconds after his daughter fell over the side of the ship, and kept them afloat for 20 minutes until help arrived

‘I could see the fear in their eyes, and they went to the edge of the boat and I’m seeing anything that floats get thrown off the side.

‘You could not see them down there so I thought they were dying.’

But another passenger, Monica Shannon, who was on holiday with her husband and young child, said a crew member told her a different story.

‘She said the parents were playing shuffleboard and the girl was climbing on the on the railings… and as she went to climb up again she flew off,’ Shannon told The Mail.

Shannon said the crew told her the area was often very windy, and a sudden gust could have contributed to the child toppling over the edge.

Deck four includes a jogging track and is lined with railings that extend 42.5 inches (3.54ft) from the floor with plexiglass in front of them. 

Indoor sections have open portholes that could easily be climbed out of but not fallen through.

Shannon, from South Florida, said she was in her room on a lower deck directly below the shuffleboard area and ‘saw something go by really fast’.

The father looks up at the crowd of passengers cheering their safe return

The dad, clearly exhausted and distraught, gave the crowd a thumbs up as the boat approached the ship

The emotional father then wiped his face with his hand

‘I don’t think anything of it, I definitely didn’t think it was a person or a body that just fell off the ship,’ she said. 

Minutes later her husband told her what happened and she rushed onto the deck.

Another anonymous passenger who claimed to be near the family when the girl fell also insisted the railing photo story wasn’t true.

‘I was there. This is not what happened. I heard the screaming and went to help. The little girl was not sitting on the railing,’ they wrote on Facebook.

‘I was there with them. We were first to help when we heard the initial fall/scream.’

Multiple passengers said the girl’s mother was hysterical after watching her daughter and husband go over the side.

‘The mom was yelling “she’s five and can’t swim”,’ nearby cruise customer Shannon Lindholm said.

Monica Shannon added: ‘The crew said the mom was brought inside away from the edge and that she was hysterical the entire time.’

Another passenger said a crew member told her a different story – that the girl was climbing on the railings and fell in while her parents were distracted playing shuffleboard (pictured)

Deck four includes a jogging track and is lined with railing that extend 42.5 inches from the floor with plexiglass in front of them

Indoor sections have open portholes that could easily be climbed out of but not fallen through

Cruise passengers Gar Frantz (left) and Nikki Samsill Jackson (right)

Within seconds of the girl falling, the ship’s automatic man overboard alarm and the emergency code ‘Mr MOB’ blared over the intercom.

‘It was my first cruise ever and it was pretty traumatizing trying to wrap my head around it,’ passenger Nikki Samsill Jackson told the Daily Mail.

‘When it first happened, everyone was saying that somebody jumped in and at that point we didn’t know he jumped in to save his child, everyone was thinking suicide or too much alcohol.’

Within minutes crew readied a yellow motorized rescue boat and went after the stricken pair as hundreds of passengers rushed to the railings.

Flotation rings were thrown into the water, but they were either too far away, or the father couldn’t grab them without risking letting go of his daughter. 

Passengers described the massive 130,000 gigaton ship, which travels at 25mph, turning around as the rescue boat raced to find them before they drowned.

‘When they were rescued, dad had his arms around his child and he was treading water,’ Jackson said.

The ship’s doctor has been praised online for stroking the girl’s hair to keep her calm

A father and daughter were rescued from the ocean 20 minutes after the girl fell off the side of the Disney Dream cruise ship and her dad dived in after her

Passengers cheered as the rescue boat reach the father and daughter and hauled them on board

Frantz described the moment rescuers hauled them onto the boat.

‘Everybody was cheering because you could see them lift them into the boat and they had the baby in their arms,’ he said.

The dad, clearly exhausted and distraught, gave the crowd a thumbs up as the boat approached the ship, then wiped his face with his hand.

His daughter was sitting on the ship’s doctor’s knee as she was checked out, appearing healthy despite her ordeal.

The physician has been praised online for stroking the girl’s hair to keep her calm. 

‘When they were safely recovered, the captain made an announcement to say what happened,’ one passenger wrote online.

‘His voice was wavering and cracking, you could tell this shook him to the core.’

The father was hailed as a hero for saving his daughter from almost certain death on her own in the ocean, without regard for his own life.

Initial reports and online reactions to videos of the rescue universally praised him, until the tide turned when rumors began to spread.

A wave of relief spread through the ship as it became clear both dad and daughter were safe

Detectives from the Broward County Sheriff’s Office are investigating, but said there ‘doesn’t appear to be anything suspicious’

Detectives from the Broward County Sheriff’s Office are investigating, but said there ‘doesn’t appear to be anything suspicious’.

They confirmed the girl’s age and that the man who jumped in was her father.

Disney Cruise Line later praised its crew for the incredible save.

‘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. 

‘We are committed to the safety and well-being of our guests, and this incident highlights the effectiveness of our safety protocols.’ 

The Daily Mail asked Disney to clarify how the girl fell overboard in the interest of calming online backlash against the father, but it didn’t respond. 

The Disney Dream was built in 2010 and last refurbished in 2024, according to Cruise Mapper.