Taipei, Aug. 11 (CNA) Coast Guard officers on Sunday boarded a cruise ship in Keelung after it returned from Okinawa to determine if foul play was involved in the death of a Taiwanese woman who fell from the 11th deck of the ship Friday.

After the officers boarded the Sun Princess, a 1,990-passenger cruise liner, they checked the body of the 41-year-old Taiwanese woman, who was recovered from the sea after falling from the ship, and also asked to see video footage related to the incident.

The victim, identified only by her surname Wang (王), was traveling with her mother and aunt. Their five-day cruise to Okinawa left Keelung on Wednesday.

Wang was first discovered missing at 6 a.m. Friday Japanese time. The ship's crew quickly launched a full-scale search, and found camera footage of her going over the guardrail on the 11th deck of the ship and falling overboard, Princess Cruises, which operates the Sun Princess, said in a statement.

The statement did not elaborate on the movements it saw the women make or disclose the exact time of the incident.

The ship immediately changed course and sent out a rescue team in an attempt to locate Wang. It found the missing woman at 7:13 a.m., the statement said.

Wang showed no signs of life after being recovered from the sea before the medical team on board declared her dead, and her body was then stored in a refrigerated storage area on the ship, according to the statement.

The cruise continued its trip after the incident while Wang's two relatives decided to return to Taiwan from Okinawa by air.

In the statement, Princess Cruises expressed regret over the incident and thanked the Japanese Coast Guard for its assistance in the search.

(By Wang Chao-yu and Joseph Yeh)
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