A five-year-old girl was rescued from the sea after falling overboard from a Disney cruise ship while taking pictures.

Her father jumped into the ocean to try to save her after she fell from the fourth deck of a 14-deck Disney Cruise ship on Sunday afternoon.

Following a "man overboard" alert being broadcast, a rescue boat pulled the pair to safety after they had been treading water for 10 minutes.

The 4,000-person capacity Disney Dream cruise was on the final day from the Bahamas to Florida.

The five-year-old fell from the fourth deck of a 14-deck Disney Cruise ship on Sunday afternoon

Disney confirmed in a statement that two passengers were safely rescued.

A spokesperson said: "The Crew aboard the Disney Dream swiftly rescued two guests from the water. We commend our Crew Members for their exceptional skills and prompt actions, which ensured the safe return of both guests to the ship within minutes."

A passenger told NBC that the child had been sitting on the rail of the fourth-floor deck while a picture was being taken.

Gar Frantz said: "We watched it, you could see two little things... It was crazy, it was horrific."

A girl was rescued from the sea after falling overboard from a Disney cruise ship while taking pictures

Another voyager, Gail Merrick, added: "We came to find out that it was a child and then the father had gone in after the child, so we were watching with bated breath basically waiting for what would happen."

A third eyewitness, James Tackett, said the news that the pair were safe resulted in everyone cheering.

His mother Brenda added: "The Disney Cruise Line staff were phenomenal, the crew, everybody was on it.

"You could tell they've practiced this, hopefully have never used it before, but they were great. The whole thing was maybe 10, 15 minutes, and they safely got back on board."

A third eyewitness said the news that the pair were safe resulted in everyone cheering

Videos of the incident have been circulating online.

Passenger Laura Amador told CBS News: "The ship was moving quickly, so quickly, it's crazy how quickly the people became tiny dots in the sea, and then you lost sight of them.

"The captain slowed the ship and turned it around, and then they deployed a tender ship with people on it to go get them, and we saw them rescue the dad and daughter."