Indiana toddler had 'no life' and her pink shoe was lying near her on pier, says doctor who saw body after fall

A doctor who was on board a Caribbean cruise ship where an Indiana toddler died after suffering a fall from the 11th deck has come out to describe his horrifying account.

Dr. Marcel Alexander Armand Van Drunick, 57, was on the 'Royal Caribbean's Freedom of the Seas' on July 7 last year when 18-month-old Chloe Wiegand, who was on holiday with her family, fell through her grandfather Salvatore Anello's grip and fell 150 feet down to her death, landing on concrete.

In a witness statement obtained by the Daily Mail, Van Drunick said he was radioed at around 4:04 pm about an "accident on the gangway" and had to race along the Pan-American pier in San Juan, Puerto Rico, where the ship was docked, to get to the toddler.

But the fall had proven fatal and there was nothing he could do to save her. He said she had suffered "multiple traumatic injuries" and had "no life" when he reached the scene. "Her one pink shoe and the white hat were lying on the pier not far from the deceased," he said. "I immediately shouted for a sheet to cover the body."

At this point, he said he heard screams emanating from the 11th deck and went to investigate, only to find Anello being escorted by people on both sides and "crying and sobbing."

"The grandfather collapsed on his hands and knees in the corner of the elevator," he said. "He was distraught sobbing, crying, saying: 'I dropped my baby, I dropped my baby.'"

"I bent down and asked him what happened. While he was crying he just said: 'I thought the window was closed,'" he continued, adding that the "parents were emotionally traumatized" and that they were "kept separated from the ER/Grandfather."

He also said Anello refused to take a sedative and eventually calmed down, but that he kept "bursting into tears" every time anyone spoke to him.

Van Drunick's two-page statement has been included by Chloe's parents in a new federal court filing in a US District Court in Miami accusing the Royal Caribbean of defaming Anello by attempting to shift blame onto him for Chloe's death and making "false statements" about the tragedy.

They argued that there hadn't been a single sign, decal, or safety notice alerting Anello that the window was open, which was a breach of industry-wide safety laws.

In response, the cruise operator filed a counter to have the suit thrown out and included two video clips from cameras on board to prove that the grandfather "unquestionably" leaned out of the window, and therefore, knew it was open.

However, the parents have disputed those claims in new findings they made via their investigation of the incident which included a reconstruction of the horrifying incident that involved a doll and a man of near-identical height and stature to Anello.

They said the 18-inch gap between the handrail and the window on the 11th deck meant Anello would have to be seven inches off the ground to even touch the window, let alone lean out of it, and that it was a "physical impossibility" for him to have been doing so with Chloe in his hands. They also asked for the court to direct the Royal Caribbean to release footage from 11 more cameras which they said had not been disclosed to them.