Friends of Cameron Robbins ‘tried to physically stop’ him from jumping overboard

Friends of Louisiana teen Cameron Robbins ‘tried to physically stop’ him from jumping overboard on a Bahamas party cruise before he went missing in shark infested waters. 

The high school baseball star reportedly jumped from the deck after being dared, but a mother of one of Robbins’ friends has revealed several students tried to grab him before he went overboard.

‘This was a booze cruise, and they were on their way back when this happened,’ she told Fox News. 

‘My son texted me when it happened, saying, ‘Cameron jumped off. They can’t find him.’ They were out there until 2, 3 the morning. It was terrible weather that night. The kids were cold, wet and traumatized. 

‘The girls were in bikinis and bathing suits. The guys were giving them their shirts. It was a bad time to bring drunk 18-year-olds out into waters near this island where there’s nothing.’ 

Robbins (left) had only arrived on the island hours before the pirate-themed sunset boat excursion and had been staying at the Atlantis Paradise Island in Nassau

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A shadowy image, circled left, can be seen moving towards Robbins as he swims away from the boat. Despite a life preserver being thrown towards Robbins, he can be seen, right, swimming away from it 

Robbins had only been on the island mere hours before he joined the party cruise alongside dozens of recent graduates, who travelled to the Caribbean hotspot to celebrate finishing high school just days before the tragedy. 

But the mother said the other graduates were left in shock and disbelief after Robbins broke free and jumped into the water, leading to an exhaustive multi-day search that has since been called off.

Terrifying footage then captured the moment Robbins was flung a life preserver by one of his fellow graduates, only for him to swim away from help as a shadowy image circled beneath.

The ominous video has fueled speculation he may have been attacked by a shark, and with no trace of the youngster, the multi-agency search for him was called off after two days.

Providing an update as the search was ended, Royal Bahamas Defense Force (RBDF) Commodore Raymond King confirmed that the area where Robbins went overboard is populated by a high number of sharks.

‘I can tell you that area where an individual reportedly jumped over, it’s an area that is really shark infested as well,’ he said.

‘It is so unfortunate, but I don’t want the family to lose hope.

Robbins, pictured here on the left with his grandmom and brother, had only just graduated from high school days before the tragedy 

‘The probability of survival decreases significantly particularly if a person did not have on a life vest and particularly if a person is perceived to be intoxicated.’

Before the operation was called off, the US Coast Guard deployed multiple search and rescue assets in response to obtaining assistance from the Royal Bahamas Defense Force.

The expansive search to find Robbins saw officials plot and scour a 325-square-mile area of the Caribbean Sea.