A passenger who died after plunging from a Carnival cruise ship balcony on to a deck below has been identified as an Indiana father-of-two.

Brian Rice died after falling from a balcony on the ninth deck of the Carnival Horizon cruise ship last Friday as it was returning to Miami, Florida.

Rice, who was traveling on the ship with his wife Diane, fell four levels before landing on the fifth floor deck below.

He suffered a blunt force trauma injury, according to a medical examiner.

Witnesses say Rice's distraught wife rushed down the the levels to her husband after his fall. Passengers tried to console her and comfort her injured husband until medical help arrived.

Brian Rice, a father-of-two from Indiana, died after falling from a balcony on the ninth deck of the Carnival Horizon cruise ship last Friday as it was returning to Miami, Florida. He was on the ship with his wife Diane at the time

The ship's medical staff treated Rice before he succumbed to his injuries.

Miami-Dade police said they are investigating the circumstances surrounding the death.

Authorities have said the incident is not being treated as a suicide.

Rice is believed to have been a father of three-year-old twin boys, according to a GoFundMe page set up for his family.

It is not clear if the twins were also on the ship at the time.

'Anyone who knew Brian knows how easy it was to call him a friend. He was the most generous person we knew,' the page said.

'He'd give the shirt off his back for a stranger and drop everything to help a friend in need. Anyone who connected with him felt as if you were immediately a part of his family.'

At the time of his death, Rice was on board the ship that was returning to a Miami port following a six-night cruise around the Caribbean with stops in Jamaica, the Cayman Islands and Mexico.

Carnival Cruise Line confirmed the man's death and offered 'thoughts and prayers' to his family.

The ship was returning to Miami following a six-night cruise around the Caribbean with stops in Jamaica, the Cayman Islands and Mexico

Witnesses say Rice's distraught wife Diane (above) rushed down the the levels to her husband after his fall. Passengers tried to console her and comfort her injured husband until medical help arrived

'We can confirm the death of a guest on Carnival Horizon as the ship was returning to Miami on Friday evening,' a spokesman for the cruise company said.

'Our CareTeam continues to provide support to the guest's family and we cooperated with the standard law enforcement investigation when the ship arrived to PortMiami on Saturday morning.'

Some witnesses described hearing a sickening thud just outside a restaurant area of the ship at the time of the incident.

A witness said an area of the fifth deck was cordoned off by staff and fellow passengers 'knew something was up'.

Cindy Knox told CBS Miami that a member of the cabin crew confirmed the guest's death following a fall.

'We definitely saw something was up when we were looking over our balcony and we're seeing a section of the fifth floor, it's all blocked off and people are standing around guarding where you can't get to it and all the furniture has been pushed out of the way,' she said.

'You knew something was up you just didn't know what. I asked our cabin steward, ''Life Flight didn't come last night, is everything OK?'' And he said, ''no, he passed away''.'

Rice is believed to have been a father of three-year-old twin boys that he shared with his wife Diane, according to a GoFundMe page set up for his family