Gruesome Carnival Ecstasy Death

© REUTERS/Joe Skipper

Family horrified by gruesome death on cruise ship - A Florida couple witnessed the gruesome aftermath of a crew member’s death onboard a Carnival cruise ship earlier this week.

On Sunday, Jose Sandoval Opazo, 66, who worked as an electrician onboard the ship, was killed while working on an elevator, Miami-Dade Police told WFTX-TV.

Matt Davis of Fort Meyers, Fla., said he and his family boarded the Carnival Ecstasy in Miami on Christmas Day. On Sunday evening, they were on their way to dinner when they saw blood streaming down the doors of an elevator.

 "To look and see the elevator with just blood coming down like a sheet, and not stopping... it was a real life scene of The Shining," Davis told WFTX.

Davis captured video of the elevator doors struggling to close.

He said crew members tried to usher passengers away from the doors following the incident and 45 minutes later the elevator was sectioned off.

"Somebody was inside or behind that wall when the elevator came down, and I don't know what happened, but something terrifying happened," Davis told WFTX.

Carnival is providing support to those affected, according to Vance Gulliksen, a spokesman for Carnival, CNN reported.

Gulliksen told CNN a “full investigation into the cause of the accident is underway.”