Cruise ship worker accused of stabbing 3 people near Vancouver Island

A cruise ship worker from South Africa was arrested Tuesday in Alaska’s capital on charges he attacked a woman and two guards with scissors aboard the ship, authorities said.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office says the man has been charged with assault with a dangerous weapon within maritime and territorial jurisdiction. Online court records do not list an attorney for the 35-year-old man.

According to a sworn statement by FBI Special Agent Matthew Judy, the man was recently hired by a cruise line and boarded the ship, the Norwegian Encore, in Seattle on Sunday. The ship left that day for a weeklong voyage with scheduled stops in Alaska, including the capital of Juneau, and British Columbia.

The alleged incident occurred west of Vancouver Island as the ship was sailing toward Alaska. According to the affidavit, ship personnel saw the man attempting to use a lifeboat late Sunday night and he was taken by security to a medical center for evaluation.

While there, he “became irrational and attempted to leave” and “physically attacked” a guard and a nurse, the affidavit said.

He ran into another room, where he grabbed a pair of scissors and stabbed a woman who was being examined, as well as two guards who tried to intervene, before being subdued and held in a “detention facility on board a ship,” the statement said. None of the injuries were considered life-threatening.

The ship arrived in Juneau on Tuesday, where he was arrested by the FBI, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.