Eight-year-old girl dies on a cruise ship in Miami

An eight-year-old girl has died after falling from an upper deck into the lobby of a cruise ship docked in Miami.

The youngster is thought to have fallen between 25ft and 50ft (between 7.5m and 15m) from the interior atrium of the Carnival Glory on Saturday morning.

The ship, operated by Carnival Cruise Lines, had recently arrived in PortMiami, Dodge Island, just off shore from mainland Florida and east of Miami Beach, at the time.

A witness, Raymond Kassim, told Fox News affiliate 7News Miami he heard someone cry out.

"You heard 'Oh, my baby, oh, my baby', and when you looked, she was down at the bottom," he said.

"It happened so fast. She just fell over."

Passengers described chaotic scenes as those in the ship's atrium realised what had happened.

On board emergency responders attended the scene and attempted to save her life.

Emergency medical technician Bob Dorr, who was among the first to try to save the girl, said: "She had severe injuries.

"I started doing CPR until the doctor showed up, and then the doctor took over."

The girl was taken in a critical condition to the Ryder Trauma Centre, about three miles away from the port, but she died.

7News interviewed a relative of her family at the hospital, named only as Zion, who said she was only out of sight for a few seconds when the tragedy happened.

The family are understood to be from The Bahamas and had just completed a seven-day cruise.

A statement from Miami-based Carnival Cruise Lines, a subsidiary of US-British Carnival Corporation & PLC, to 7News said: "Our most heartfelt condolences are with the family at this very difficult time."

Police are investigating.