The daughter of an 80-year-old woman left on a remote island is blasting the cruise ship for her mom's death. The passenger died on Lizard Island after being left.
Australian retiree Suzanne Rees had been traveling by herself. She was on the Coral Adventurer, a 60-day cruise around Australia. Rees had been a part of a tour group that visited the island. However, she never made it back to the boat and wasn't reported missing until much later. Speaking via New York Post, Rees' daughter Katherine Rees blamed the cruise ship crew for her mother's death.
She said there was a "failure of care and common sense."
"We understand from the police that it was a very hot day. And Mom fell ill on the hill climb," she said. "She was asked to head down, unescorted. Then the ship left, apparently without doing a passenger count. At some stage in that sequence. Or shortly after, Mom died, alone. I hope that the coronial inquiry will find out what the company should have done that might have saved Mom's life."
Rees had been among a group going to Lizard Island. However, she stopped to rest while the rest of the group continued forward. At some point, she fell down a cliff to her death.
Cruise Ship Death
News.com.au contacted Coral Adventurer for comment regarding the allegations - however it said it is not providing additional comments while the investigations remain underway.
Cruise ship expert Adrian Tassone weighed in on the death.
"That's something that I am really struggling with trying to understand myself," Tassone said. "Cruise lines in normal sort of operation will always know who is on the ship and who is off the ship, so if the reports are to be believed and this woman was left behind on the island, I really can't understand how that occurred."
Tassone also said, "That's something that I think most people are questioning and trying to come to grips with. Really there are systems in place across the board that should prevent that from happening, so I don't know what happened in this instance that led to that occurring. This ship held a maximum of 120 passengers, so I struggle to understand how a headcount wasn't conducted."
Meanwhile, Coral Expeditions released a statement about the cruise ship death.
"On Saturday October 25, the crew notified authorities that a woman was missing, and a search and rescue operation was launched on land and sea. Following the operation, Coral Expeditions was notified by Queensland Police that the woman had been found deceased on Lizard Island. While investigations into the incident are continuing, we are deeply sorry that this has occurred and are offering our full support to the woman's family," they said.
