Cruise ship worker accused of stabbing 3 people with scissors on board vessel bound for Alaska

A worker from South Africa on a cruise ship got arrested in Alaska's main city on Tuesday, May 7. Authorities say he attacked a woman and two security guards with scissors on the ship.

The U.S. attorney's office charged him with assaulting them with a dangerous weapon in a maritime area. Court records online don't show if he has a lawyer yet.

According to an affidavit from FBI Special Agent Matthew Judy, the man was recently hired by a cruise line and joined the ship, the Norwegian Encore, in Seattle on Sunday. The ship set off that day for a weeklong trip with scheduled stops in Alaska ports, including the capital of Juneau, and British Columbia.

The alleged incident happened west of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, as the ship was sailing to Alaska. According to the affidavit, during the 'late evening" Sunday, ship personnel saw the man trying to deploy a lifeboat, and he was taken by security to a medical center for an evaluation.

While there, he "became irrational and attempted to leave," and "physically attacked" a guard and a nurse, the affidavit states. He ran into another room, where he grabbed a pair of scissors and stabbed a woman who was being examined, as well as two guards who tried to intervene before being subdued and held in a "shipboard jail," the affidavit says. None of the injuries were considered life-threatening.

The ship arrived in Juneau on Tuesday, May 7, when he was arrested by the FBI, the U.S. attorney's office says.