Teenage daredevil hangs from edge of cruise ship

A teenager risked death by dangling from the edge of a cruise ship in a crazy stunt.

Footage filmed by another passenger shows the boy climbing over a railing and lowering himself until he is hanging by only his arms as the sea churns beneath him.

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Passengers and the teen can be heard laughing as he heaves himself back on board after dangling from the ship for a few moments.

In a hair-raising moment, the young daredevil briefly appears to struggle to lift his weight back onto the lower deck as another a passenger says: "Are you alright?"

The clip was posted on Twitter by Anthony Rosale, who wrote: "Craziest dude I met on my cruise".

It was reportedly filmed on the Carnival Liberty, a 110,000-tonne cruise liner, while at sea off the Texas coast on November 19.

The stunt was condemned as "incredibly dangerous" by fellow passengers and the ship's owners.

Buffy Halbrooks Augustine told Click 2 Houston: "This literally made my heart beat super fast and made me nervous. Kids just don't understand that they are not invincible."

"He thought he was having fun and never considered the possibilities."

Another passenger, who gave his name as Marcus K, added: "It's incredibly dangerous. He would have been sucked under immediately."

In a statement, Carnival Cruise Line said: "We recently became aware of the video and are investigating. We strongly condemn any such behavior by our guests that puts themselves or others at risk."

A 33-year-old woman is presumed to have died plunging overboard from the same ship in May this year.

Mum-of-four Samantha Broberg was seen falling backwards into the water as she sat on a railing at 2am.

The US Coast Guard spent 20 hours scouring 4,300 square miles of the Gulf of Mexico before calling off the search.