2 die in separate drownings at Carnival Cruise destination in Bahamas
The elderly Americans were passengers on separate ships
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Carnival Cruise Line's Celebration Key opened on July 19 to more than 7,000 passengers from the cruise lines' Carnival Glory and Carnival Conquest ships. (Photo credit: Carnival Cruise Line/newsroom)
Aug. 17 (UPI) -- Two American cruise passengers in their 70s drowned in separate incidents on Carnival Cruise Lines' private destination in the eastern Bahamas.
At Celebration Key on the south side of Grand Bahama, one person died in a lagoon and another at the beach on Friday, the cruise line told ABC News. The 65-acre private location, which initially cost $600 million to build, opened in July.
Grand Bahama, with 47,000 residents, is not on a private island, like Carnival's other locations for guests.
The island, which serves two Carnival ships at one time, also includes a water park, restaurants, swim-up bar, the world's tallest sandcastle and swing, and 1.5 miles of beach.
"One guest was sailing with family on Mardi Gras and one guest was sailing with family on Carnival Elation," the cruise line said in a statement. "Our thoughts and prayers are with the guests and their families and our Care Team is providing assistance."
Both cruise ships left ports in Florida last week.
Before noon, Royal Bahamas Police Force officers found a 79-year-old man unresponsive aboard a commercial vessel.
"According to the initial report, the male became unresponsive while snorkeling at a beach," police said in a statement to NBC News. "A lifeguard assisted him from the water, and CPR was administered, but to no avail."
Shortly before 2:30 p.m., offers found an unresponsive 74-year-old woman who had been swimming in the pool. A lifeguard assisted her out of the water and CPR was administered "to no avail," police said.
Carnival said more than 2 million guests a year will visit the destination. An extension is being built to serve two additional ships at one time.
In the debut on July 19, more than 7,000 passengers from Carnival Glory and Carnival Conquest went to Carnival's site.
Grand Bahama, which is near Freeport, is 65 miles east of Palm Beach County in Florida. Southeast Bahamas, 145 miles from Grand Bahama, is under a tropical storm warning from Hurricane Erin.
The Elation, which launched in 1998, is a 71,909-ton, 855-foot-long ship, that can accommodate up to 2,900 guests and a crew of 900. It sails out of Jacksonville on five-day cruises.
The Mardi Gras, which began service in 2016, is a 181,808-ton, 1,113-foot ship can host up to 6,000 passengers and 2,000 crew members. The Mardi Gras sails out of Port Canaveral on seven-night trips. Another Mardi Gras was Carnival's first ship launched in 1972 and sold in 1993.
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