United States Federal Bureau of Investigation agents investigating the death of Mindy Jordan arrived on the Island yesterday and were believed to be questioning the 46-year-old's boyfriend, with whom she was travelling on the Norwegian Dawn when she fell overboard, and other witnesses.

The agents boarded the ship around mid-day amid a media frenzy as questions surrounding Ms Jordan's death have be raised in the US media with members of her family publicly disputing the cruise line's version of events and claiming Ms Jordan was in an abusive relationship.

Ms Jordan fell overboard at 7.50 p.m. on Sunday while the cruise ship was just four hours outside of Manhattan, its point of departure.

An immediate search was launched and continued until Monday afternoon but the mother-of-two could not be found.

As the cruise ship continued on its course for Bermuda, reports surfaced that Ms Jordan was seen climbing on the outside from balcony to balcony before plunging to her death.

The cruise line said she appeared to be doing so in windy conditions when she fell.

Last night the cruise line released a statement saying that onboard video surveillance footage showed the woman was alone right before she fell overboard and her boyfriend Jorge Caputo was not with her.

"The advanced safety and surveilance system operating on Norwegian Dawn, including cameras in the interior hallways and on the exterior sides of the ship has confirmed that Mindy Jordan was in her stateroom alone at the time of the incident," it read.

"It also revealed that after dining at a restaurant with the couple they were travelling with, Ms Jordan and Mr. Caputo returned to their cabin at 7.28 p.m.

"At 7.36 p.m. Jorge left his stateroom and went to join his friends in their (adjacent) stateroom."

At 7.53 p.m. surveillance cameras from the exterior captured Mindy falling overboard from her balcony, straight into the water.

"Shortly thereafter, an emergency call was made from the friends' stateroom and Jorge is seen exiting to seek help."

A "man overboard" announcement was then made on the ship's PA system before the crew launched two rescue boats, which yielded nothing.

"Norwegian Cruise Line said they had made arrangements to fly Ms Jordan's family to Bermuda to join the ship so that they can view the footage today.

But, however, rumours surrounding Ms Jordan's disappearance are in full swing, with some believing her deadly fall was an accident and others suspecting a more sinister scenario.

Ms Jordan's family have raised questions about the circumstances of her death with her mother, Louise Horton, 66, of Bordertown, New Jersey, telling the Philadelphia Daily News her daughter was in an abusive relationship.

Mrs. Horton said Mr. Caputo had called to tell the family of the incident but did not do so until Monday morning and that he had claimed they had been "clowning around".

Ms Jordan's brother, Steve Lynn, told another newspaper that his sister's relationship with Caputo was volatile. The couple had been living outside Philadelphia inPine Valley prior to the cruise.

Mr. Caputo was believed to be among witnesses being questioned aboard the Dawn in Bermuda yesterday, however, officials were keeping mum about the nature of their inquiries.

Mr. Caputo remained on board the ship and has not been charged with any crime.

Yesterday, an FBIspokesman told the South Jersey News that agents would be questioning witnesses, first and foremost to determine whether a crime had occurred. Agent Jim Margolin said that if no charges arise from the matter, the details of the investigation may not be made public.

Ms Jordan's mother, sister and brother have all rejected the claim she fell accidentally while climbing between balconies and called for a full investigation.

Ms Jordan's sister Julie August, described the cruise ship's findings "crazy" and emphasised her sister was only 4 foot 10 inches and would have had difficulty trying to climb a high railing

"Not unless her room was on fire... she's not some partying kid on a cruise," she was quoted as saying.

Yesterday, two suit-clad FBI agents met the ship at King's Wharf in Dockyard as a contingent of US media on Island to cover the story looked on. The agents, escorted by a Bermuda Police inspector in an unmarked car, pulled into the cruise ship terminal around 12.20 p.m. The agents had arrived in Bermuda less than an hour prior to turning up at Dockyard. With several briefcases in hand, they immediately boarded the ship to start their investigation, escorted by the Dawn's Captain.

Later, Police spokesman Dwayne Caines told the gathered media: "The FBI agents are on the vessel as we speak and they've started the formal investigative process.

"The Bermuda Police Service is acting in a facilitatory environment at this time."

He estimated the agents would be onboard the ship "all afternoon" and possibly late into last night.

Later yesterday evening, the Police issued a statement saying the FBI is "the lead investigative agency". The statement continued: "As such the Bermuda Police Service is providing support to the FBI. In addition, the Bermuda Government has pledged full cooperation and assistance to the US authorities."

As most of the ship's 2,447 passengers disembarked at Dockyard yesterday morning, The Royal Gazette was told that those on board were given little information about the deadly incident, with many knowing only the shipboard gossip.

"It's all very tragic especially when we heard she's got two kids and it happened on Mother's Day it's just a sad state of affairs," said passenger Joe Poturaj, from New Jersey.

"After an announcement was made over the PA system that someone had fallen overboard on Sunday night, people started talking from the casino to the cafeteria. That's pretty much how word got around the ship

"Passengers said following the failed search and rescue operation, Ms Jordan's cabin was cordoned off with yellow tape.

Mr. Poturaj said: "I saw that it was marked with yellow tape. I would imagine they did that to prevent any disturbance to the cabin so investigators can see what went on inside there there is a yellow X on the door. "

Mr. Potaraj said rough sea conditions Sunday and Monday may have hampered the search. "I don't know if any authorities could get onboard because the water was so rough," he said.

"I was in the Navy onboard an aircraft carrier and, if it's correct she fell from the ninth level balcony, that's pretty high. If she fell and didn't know how to brace herself for the impact; it's likely she was dead as soon as she hit the water."

His daughter Danee Poturaj described the bird's eye view she had of the rescue operations: "We were looking down from the balcony to see if we could see anything.

"We just saw the boats and the spotlights looking through the water and this was on Sunday probably around 10 o'clock. I heard a lot of people say the search was called off around 2 in the morning.

"Meanwhile passenger Thomas McGrath's recalled hearing a "code R" go over the PA system. Mr. McGrath, from the town of Caldwell, said: "What went through my mind was, 'I wonder what that's about'.

"I thought that because obviously you don't know what a code really means. About a half-hour later the Captain got on the loud speakers saying they had a man overboard situation and they were going to reverse course and look for the person.

"His wife Barbara said she only learned the scale of the incident after she went to the ship's internet cafe and checked the news.

"I think we were all in shock absolute shock," she said. "You couldn't even get it through your head that this had happened and it was so scary."

I initially thought 'maybe she's in another room... maybe she was drunk and went to someone else's room and maybe she was going to show up.' But the whole thing was surreal."