A ROYAL Caribbean crew member stabbed his female colleague before jumping overboard to his death, police say.

The body of a 35-year-old South African man was recovered from the water just minutes after he is said to have attacked a 28-year-old woman.

Both crew members were working on the luxury Icon of the Seas cruise late on Thursday night when a “personal dispute” erupted onboard.

The man repeatedly stabbed the woman, also from South Africa, shortly before 7:30pm, the Royal Bahamas Police Force told NBC News.

He then tried to flee the ship by jumping overboard into the waters off the coast of San Salvador Island in the Bahamas.

Panicked passengers, who were unaware of the initial attack, desperately tried to help save the man by throwing life rings into the water, reports say.

He was found dead just 30 minutes later by onboard medical staff.

According to reports, the cruise ship immediately slowed down and turned back after the first alarm was sounded.

Data shows the ship’s course change northeast of San Salvador Island, roughly 200 miles east of Nassau.

Decks were cordoned off while rescue efforts got underway.

Pictures show the recovery team just moments after finding the South African and dragging him from the water onto a speedboat.

The woman was later found with multiple stab wounds to her upper body, according to police.

She was given urgent help and is now in a stable condition.

A Royal Caribbean spokesperson said: “One of the crew members was injured, was attended to by the onboard medical team, and she is now in stable condition.

“Unfortunately, the other crew member is deceased after he went overboard and was recovered in a search and rescue operation.”

The cause of the horror incident was “a personal dispute,” they added.

Investigations are still ongoing to piece together the deadly events.

An autopsy to determine the man’s exact cause of death is yet to be completed, according to police.

Neither of the crew members have been identified.

The Icon of the Seas is the world’s largest cruise ship standing at 1,196ft long and 219ft wide.

It has 20 decks and employs 2,350 international crew members.

It comes after a a Brit tourist died on a cruise ship travelling through a popular Greek island.

On another ship, a captain died in the middle of a 19-day voyage in Asia.

And a cruise ship passenger died just days before Christmas last year after trying to jump from the vessel.