The parents of Chloe Wiegand are speaking out in their first interview since the 18-month-oldfell to her death from a docked cruise shipearlier this month.
Opening up on theTodayshow Monday inan emotional conversationwithSavannah Guthrie, Alan and Kimberly Wiegand recalled the traumatic scene following the accident, when Chloe’s grandfather Sam placed her on a railing near a window that he believed to be a closed part of a glass wall.
“He was extremely hysterical. The thing that he has repeatedly told us is,‘I believed that there was glass,’” she told Guthrie, 47. “He will cry over and over and over. At no point ever — ever — has Sam ever put our kids in danger.”
Alan said that Sam is “very distraught,” to the point where you can “barely look at him without him crying.”
“[Chloe] was his best friend,” he added, visibly emotional.
Chloe Wiegand.Facebook
Kimberly Wiegand.TODAY/NBC
While in the children’s play area of the Royal Caribbean cruise ship, Chloe tragically died after she fell more than 10 stories onto a concrete dock in Puerto Rico. Chloe was used to being next to glass, having a habit of banging on the panels at the hockey rink at home while attending her brother’s games and practices.
A spokesperson also previously toldNBC Newsthat the cruise line was cooperating with local authorities in the investigation.
Kimberly told Guthrie on Monday that she thinks Royal Caribbean “[has] to be” responsible for the incident, adding, “This cannot happen to another family.”
“We obviously blame them,” she said. “There are a million things that could’ve been done to make that safer. I know my mom was asking people, ‘Why on Earth isthere a window open on the 11th floorwithout a screen or anything?’ ”
“And their response to that was, ‘We need ventilation,’ ” Kimberly claimed. “Well, to that I would say, ‘Get a fan. Come up with some other mechanism to make your guests comfortable, rather than creating a tremendous safety hazard that cost our child her life.’ ”
Alan and Kimberly Wiegand.TODAY/NBC
Kimberly “never [wants] another mother to have to experience this or to see what I had to see” in regard to the accident (“to scream how I had to scream”), or in seeing her son wish he had been there to save his sister.
AsAlan explained to Guthrie of Chloe, “We’ll never forget her. She’s part of our soul that’s not there anymore.”
“It’s really easy to shut out the world and to give up, but we will not do that because that’s not who Chloe was,” Kimberly adds. “We have to go on for her. We can’t give up.”
source: people.com
