FBI investigating death from domestic dispute on cruise ship

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - A domestic dispute aboard a cruise ship led to the death of a 39-year-old Utah woman, and the FBI is investigating what happened in U.S. waters off Alaska, the agency said Wednesday.

Princess Cruises said the woman died Tuesday night on the Emerald Princess, which was carrying 3,400 passengers and 1,100 crew members on a weeklong trip that left Sunday from Seattle.

Company spokeswoman Negin Kamali declined to provide any other details about the case, including the woman's name, and referred questions to the FBI.

FBI spokeswoman Staci Feger-Pellessier said an agency team was headed to Alaska's capital city of Juneau and no arrests had been made.

The Emerald Princess was diverted to Juneau because of the investigation. The ship arrived in Juneau early Wednesday, and passengers were stuck on board for more than eight hours before they were allowed to disembark.

Earlier, several people, including one child, were escorted by authorities off the vessel in two separate groups. Most were wearing white and gray hooded sweat shirts, with the hoods and umbrellas obscuring their faces.

The groups were whisked away in vehicles with dark-tinted windows that waited in a restricted area of the port.

While passengers waited to leave the ship, some could be seen taking photos of Gastineau Channel and Juneau from the decks and balconies of the vessel.

No further schedule changes were expected for the cruise, which was set to leave late Wednesday and head to the southeast Alaska town of Skagway.

Conversations were underway to offer passengers compensation for lost time, such as providing credits for shore excursions, Kamali said.

The FBI said it is required to step in when such deaths occur in international or U.S. waters. The Coast Guard also was investigating.

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Bohrer reported from Juneau, Alaska.

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This story has been corrected to show the cruise ship had 3,400 passengers, not 3,000.