A young girl has died after slipping from her grandfather's arms on the 11th deck of a cruise ship while it was docked in Puerto Rico, according to reports.

The child, who is believed to have been 18-months-old, is understood to have fallen from the Freedom of the Seas ship onto the concrete port below.

Local media have said preliminary reports suggest the child was being carried by her grandfather who slipped and dropped the child overboard.

She was taken to hospital in San Juan following the incident on Sunday afternoon but was pronounced dead shortly after.

A statement from the Department of Public Security of Puerto Rico said: "We regret the sad event that occurred on the Freedom of the Seas cruise and we sympathised with the family of the girl who died."

Investigators and forensics teams are at the scene interviewing passengers who witnessed the fall.

The family of the girl are believed to be from Indiana in the US.

A statement from Royal Caribbean said: "We are assisting local authorities in San Juan, PR as they make inquiries after an incident aboard Freedom of the Seas. We do not have further information to share at this point."

Freedom of the Seas is the 15th largest passenger ship in the world and accommodates around 5,000 passengers and crew.