A 16-year old died on a cruise ship after falling off a balcony

• A 16-year-old passenger on a Royal Caribbean Harmony of the Seas cruise ship died when he fell off a balcony last week.
• The teen has been identified as Laurent Mercer, who was on vacation with his family at the time, per South Florida Sun-Sentinel. 
• The teen's death has been determined to be an accident.
• "We are saddened by the loss of one of our guests in a tragic accident," Owen Torres, a spokesperson for Royal Caribbean, told INSIDER.

A 16-year-old passenger on a Royal Caribbean Harmony of the Seas cruise ship died when he fell off a balcony while the boat was docked in Haiti last week.

The teen has been identified as Laurent Mercer, of Wallis and Futuna Islands, a French island collectivity, per South Florida Sun-Sentinel. 

According to a statement from the Broward Medical Examiner’s Office, Mercer, who was on vacation with his family at the time, did not have his room key and was attempting to enter his room via the balcony of an adjacent room when he lost his footing and fell. Mercer landed on the ship's pier, hitting his head, per the statement. 

"The ship’s medical team responded to the pier and attempted CPR, but [he] had sustained major head trauma and he was pronounced dead," the statement said.

In a statement to INSIDER, Owen Torres, a spokesperson for Royal Caribbean confirmed the accident. 

"We are saddened by the loss of one of our guests in a tragic accident," Torres said.

At the time, the ship, which had departed from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, was docked in Labadee, Haiti, where Royal Caribbean has a private resort, per the Sun-Sentinel. 

"Local authorities reportedly responded to the scene and established that no crime had occurred, but did not issue a death certificate," a spokesperson for the Broward Medical Examiner’s Office said.

Read more: More than 270 people are sick with norovirus on a Royal Caribbean cruise ship

This is the second tragedy in several weeks aboard a Royal Caribbean cruise. On Christmas Eve, a Harmony of the Seas staff member went overboard, CNN reported.

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