ROME — A 53-year-old woman, who investigators believed attempted suicide by jumping off a cruise ship, awoke from a six-week coma and now claims she did not try to kill herself.
Laura Stuardo told police she had argued with her partner in their cabin on the Costa Fortuna cruise ship while it was docked in the Norwegian port of Flam on July 19. She fell 100 feet from the private balcony of their room, according to media reports.
“I don’t remember if he pushed me, but I certainly didn’t want to commit suicide,” she told La Stampa, an Italian daily newspaper published in Turin. “It was an extremely long drop. I screamed, then there was the impact with the water. I don’t remember anything else.”
The woman’s partner, Giovanni Pia, told police he tried to stop her from leaping to her death.
He has not been officially named as a suspect in the case.
According to the paper, the couple had recently split and booked the vacation in an effort to work on their relationship.
A camera on the ship captured Stuardo hanging from the balcony for a few seconds before she fell over the railing.
The investigation is ongoing.
