Family disputes how girl fell from ship

The lawyer for an American couple whose 18 month old daughter fell to her death from the 11th storey of a cruise ship in Puerto Rico has challenged the police account of what happened.

A statement from Puerto Rico police said that Chloe Wiegand apparently slipped from her grandfather's hands as he held her out of a ship window on Sunday.

Miami-based lawyer Michael Winkleman says the little girl plunged from a window left open in a children's play area.

The lawyer says her family are now planning to fly home to Indiana on a plane also carrying Chloe's body.

He says her parents, two siblings and grandparents want to get home "as soon as possible so that they can grieve as a family."