Cruise Law News : Maritime Lawyer & Attorney : James M. Walker : Walker & O'Neill Law Firm : Admiralty Law, Cruise Ship Accidents & Injuries

In the last two weeks, there have been two overboard passengers from U.S.-based cruise ships - Costa's Serena  and Holland America Line's Rotterdam.

These incidents have been reported - not by the cruise lines or the press - but by Canadian Professor and cruise expert Ross Klein who hosts the informative web site Cruise Junkie.  Dr. Klein has been tracking passenger and crew overboards for the past decade. 

Like Dr. Klein, we are increasingly being contacted by passengers, crew and other concerned individuals when things go wrong on cruise ships.  Here is some updated information we received from our readers:

Passenger Overboard From Costa Serena

In response to our article "Person Overboard from Costa Serena Cruise Ship?," one passenger confirmed that a 34 year old French passenger went missing at midnight on February 26th. 

"The ship had to turn around the following day. But the ship and coast guard did not find the man. On that following night the ship was given the go ahead to return to original course. but at that time it was too late to visit the port of Cadiz."

Another passenger informed us:

"Yesterday we returned from the Costa Serena. The Captain had reported to all of us passengers that the missing man was a Frenchman of the surname Pascal, reported missing by his father who was also traveling on the Costa Serena. At the time he went missing the ship was traveling from Tenerife to Cadiz (our itinerary was changed from going to Madeira because of their disaster).  Once Mr. Pascal was reported missing, the ship had turned round and for several hours searched in the area where he may have fallen overboard.  Then we were told the search and rescue authorities were taking over and as it was too late for us to visit Cadiz, we were taken straight to our following destination, i.e. Malaga. We hope that you will be able to find more regarding the fate of the missing man and let us know."
 

Passenger Overboard From HAL's Rotterdam

In response to an article " Passenger Reported Overboard From Holland America's Rotterdam Cruise Ship," a United States Naval Aircrewman reported the following:

"I was surprised that this report was not confirmed, and was hoping to help. I was aboard the aircraft referenced that arrived "onstation" to assist in the S.A.R. Operation, a United States Navy P-3C of Patrol and Reconnaissance Squadron (VP)- 26.

We arrived on station after the victim had been in water for about an hour and a half, the delay largely attributed to communication delays, and the relay of the initiated SAR from ship, to shore, to our controller. WE initiated a search pattern that proved unsuccessful. At which point we adjusted our search to the estimated current drift. After several hours we searched our absolute min allowable "off-station" fuel load (required for the transit back to base) and at the last moment we located the SAR victim. Since we were bingo fuel all we could do was give a gps point and get back home. During SAR operations we prefer to maintain "eyes-on" to guide the pick-up vessel in.

I speak for my crew in saying we are grateful to know that at least he was picked up even though we could not affect a rescue. We offer our condolences to the family and relatives, and I hope you know that we did all that we could."

Thanks To Our Readers

Thank you to our readers who have expressed their concern for these passengers and their families and have taken the time to provide information regarding these sad cases.

A special thank you to our brave U.S. Coast Guard and Navy Airmen who put their lives on the line to search for and recover our loved ones at sea.

Credits:

Costa Serena                      CruiseAir's photostream

HAL's Rotterdam                Cajun Bob's photostream

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CruiseJunkie.com reports that was a person may have gone overboard from the Costa Serena last Saturday February 27th.

A passenger informed the CruiseJunkie web site that a person was reported missing from the Costa cruise ship while in the Atlantic between the Canary Islands and Malaga.

The web site stresses that this incident is not yet confirmed from the cruise line company but is based on the account from a passenger on board the ship.

We last reported on an overboard passenger last week - Passenger Reported Overboard From Holland America's Rotterdam Cruise Ship.  There was no official confirmation from the cruise line in that case either.

This is one of the problems with overboards and crimes on cruise ships.  As matters now stand, cruise lines are under no legal obligation to report such incidents to U.S. authorities.  As a practical matter, cruise lines do not like to report incidents which tend to show that cruising is unsafe.

It has become increasingly difficult for cruise lines to engage in cover ups, with an increasing number of people using blogs and other social media tools like Twitter and FaceBook.  

Although the cruise industry refuses to disclose the actual number of people going overboard from cruise ships, the Cruise Junkie web page documents over 130 passengers and crew members have jumped, fallen, or been thrown from cruise ships in the last decade.  

Credits:

Costa Serena cruise ship                     comequandofuoripiove1973 Flickr Photostream

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The on line web information portal CruiseJunkie.com is reporting that a passenger may have gone overboard yesterday from the Rotterdam cruise ship.

The report is based on information received from a passenger on the Holland America Line cruise ship. 

CruiseJunkie.com is operated by Dr. Ross Klein, a cruise industry expert who has, among other pages, a large web page called "Events At Sea - All The Things That Can Go Wrong On A Cruise."  Dr. Klein reported yesterday:

I have been informed that a passenger jumped from the M/S Rotterdam today and was recovered deceased at about 5 pm local time. The ship will be in Costa Rica tomorrow.  This account has not be confirmed or reported by the media.

in addition to Dr, Klein's site, a comment on the popular on line cruise community CruiseCritic.com mentions the incident under the topic "Man Overboard on Rotterdam???"

 ". . . A "man overboard" was reported to the bridge, just before noon. What was done, then was to chart where the person went overboard and turn the ship around to that area. By 2:00 PM, an airplane came to circle around and look for anything in the water. By 4:00 PM, the plane had spotted something, and the ship headed there. By 5:00 PM, a tender was dropped into the ocean and found what was believed to be the person. Many of us were on deck 3, and as the tender returned to the ship, the Captain asked that all on deck 3 please, out of respect, to leave the deck. I don't know anything else. We will find out soon if we'll miss our port, tomorrow. I don't know if we'll get information about the person. There was an announcement, earlier, for someone in cabin x, to please call the front desk immediately. Tonight is formal night and I don't think anyone wants to dress up."

We previously reported on a HAL handling of an overboard passenger in an article ""Suicide" - One of the Cruise Lines' Favorite Excuses When a Passenger Disappears at Sea."  That case involved passenger Amber Malkuch.  HAL quickly called her disappearance a suicide.  This surprised not only Ms. Malkuch's friends and family, but dumbfounded the Alaskan State Troopers who had yet to review photographs and video, conduct interviews or analyze toxicology reports. 

It will be interesting to see how HAL handles this situation.  By not issuing a press statement, it looks like HAL is trying to keep the incident secret.  

Dr. Klein reports that there have been over 130 cruise overboard in the last 10 years. How many more have not been reported by the cruise industry? 

February 27, 2010 Update:

CruiseJunkiereports: "Around 10 A.M. this morning, while breakfast was going on, one guest, supposedly of cabin 1905, jumped from the outside deck. The jump was apparently witnessed as there was an immediate man overboard call and the ship manouvered quickly and then anchored and a search happened. The ship staff searched for hours, and then about 5 pm, they recovered the man's body. The ship has been under code red for 6 days for norovirus and the staff was already under huge stress." 

CruiseCritic reports that the overboard passenger was a member of the CruiseCritic on line community.
 

Credits:

Rotterdam cruise ship                 jimg944 Flickr Photostream

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The U.S. Coast Guard issued a press statement that it is searching for a crew member from the cruise ship Pacific Venus, which was sailing from Hawaii back to Yokohama, Japan.

The 24 year-old crew member was noticed missing at approximately 2 p.m., on Saturday, February 20th, after he failed to show up for his post aboard the cruise ship. The Master of the Pacific Venus' called the Coast Guard in Honolulu at 5 p.m. Saturday to report the missing crew member and to say the ship had turned around to look for him.

The Pacific Venus spent several hours Saturday afternoon searching for the crewmember before sunset in an area where he was last seen been aboard the cruise ship.

The Coast Guard deployed two C-130 long-range search aircraft to search for the overboard crewmember.

The Coast Guard also reports that a "Good Samaritan" vessel, a Japanese vessel Nippon Maru, answered a call to help through the Automated Mutual-Assistance Vessel Rescue (AMVER) program, and searched for the crewmember.

A newspaper in Hawaii reports on the story in an article entitled "Coast Guard Continues to Search for Overboard Cruise Ship Crew Member" and indicated that the Coast Guard will continue searching for the overboard crewmember.

Credit

Pacific Venus cruise ship                      ykanazawa Flickr photostream
 

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An Italian blogger Stefano Nazzi provides updated information regarding the "disappearance" of Italian crew member Angelo Faliva from the Coral Princess cruise ship operated by Princess Cruises.

In his article entitled "Chi Indaga Sulla Scomparsa di Angelo Faliva?" Mr. Nazzi questions whether anyone is actually investigating Mr. Faliva's disappearance.  He characterizes the situation as an "ugly story" - one "of pain" suffered by the Faliva family and "incompetence and laxity" by the police in Bermuda. 

In theory, the country of Bermuda is suppose to be investigating the case, because Princess Cruises flags its cruise ships in that country to avoid U.S. taxes and U.S. labor and wage laws.  

The fact that Bermuda has no genuine interest in investigating crimes and mysterious incidents on Princess cruise ships is becoming increasingly apparent.  Princess Cruises operates its fleet of cruise ships out of its corporate headquarters in Santa Clarita, California.  The police in Bermuda are literally and figuratively in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, apparently doing little to provide answers for the Faliva family.

The Italian blog suggests that the police in Bermuda have still not inspected Mr. Faliva's three cellular telephones or his computer and camera. Nor have they examined the records of the cruise ship's surveillance cameras.  When Mr. Faliva's younger sister, Chiara, inquired into the delay, the police in Bermuda complained that they were busy with other matters.  They wrote that they felt harassed by Ms. Faliva and preferred to be left alone!

The blog also contains a comment by Chiara Faliva that her family believes that the Princess cruise ship knows more about her brother's death than it will admit.  And the authorities in Bermuda are providing no answers as the family's search for information approaches three months.      

She writes that "frankly I believe that persons on board the ship know what happened at my brother.  Besides the sadness, pain, and anger, I experience also disgust, amazement and incredulity . . ." by the attitude of the "investigating" authorities.   

Angelo Faliva (below, in the galley of the Coral Princess) was a happy and well liked chef who enjoyed working on the cruise ship.  How can there be no explanation provided by Princess Cruises?  

Credits:

Photographs of Angelo Faliva      Chiara Faliva

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The non-profit organization International Cruise Victims ("ICV") posted a story on its website regarding Princess Cruises crew member Angelo Faliva who "disappeared" from the Coral Princess cruise ship in November 2009.   

The ICV represents victims of crime on cruise ships, their families and friends, and individuals concerned about disappearances on cruise ships and the cruise industry's lack of transparency. With several hundred members throughout the world, the organization advocates for legislative reform and provides support to victims of crimes occurring on cruise ships. For additional information about the ICV, please contact its president, Ken Carver.

Meanwhile Mr. Faliva's sister, Chiara, continues to seek information from any passengers or crew members who may have information. Ms. Faliva posted a request on a "Princess Cruise Staff" Facebook page:

PLEASE HELP ME: Hi, my name is Chiara Faliva, and I'm the sister of Angelo Faliva, the 31 year old Italian chef disappeared from the cruise "Coral Princess" the night of 25th November 2009, while the cruise was sailing between Aruba and Cartagena (Colombia). I'm looking for passengers that were in this ship that night . . . I just want to have some contacts with them. Please, please help me. My e-mail is:  chiara_faliva@msn.com. Thank you very much for your attention.

Angelo and Chiara are seen in this photograph in in happier times as loving brother and sister. 

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The family of Angelo Faliva continues to search for answers regarding the "disappearance " of Angelo Faliva from Princess Cruises' Coral Princess cruise ship on November 25, 2009.

Mr. Faliva's younger sister, Chiara Faliva, has appeared on television in Italy to plea for help, following the reported lack of cooperation from Princess Cruises and the Government of Bermuda.

Newspapers in Italy report that Ms. Faliva has complained that the cruise line did not timely send the tapes from the onboard cameras to the investigators from Bermuda.  What type of CCTV system did the cruise ship have?  What is the quality of the CCTV images?  

Why the delay sending the images to Bermuda? 

Princess Cruises has a very high tech "wedding cam" on all of its cruise ships. This is part of its "romance at sea" marketing theme.  The image below to the right is the live via satellite "wedding cam" on the Coral Princess.  The image is crystal clear.  You can sit at home thousands of miles away seeing exactly what is happening in the chapel on the cruise ship.  Certainly Princess Cruises has the same technology for its onboard security systems?  If so, then there should no doubt be images of Angelo Faliva available to explain what happened to him.

There is also a suggestion that no one interviewed the passengers in Sabatini's restaurant (photograph above), where Angelo Faliva worked as a chef. 

Has anyone other than the cruise line interviewed the other crew members who worked with Mr. Faliva in Sabatini's? 

Where is Mr. Faliva's laptop computer and cell phone?  Has a qualified expert retrieved the data on the computer and telephone?  Who knows?

The Faliva family remains in the dark.

Where you a passenger on the Coral Princess on November 25, 2009? 

We have heard from a few people, but certainly others must have some information?

Please contact me @ jwalker@cruiselaw.com 

Credits:    

Sabatini's restuarant                    CruiseWeb.com

Coral Princess wedding cam     Coral Princess, Princess Cruises 

Video                 Sky.it

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The disturbing circumstances surrounding the "disappearance" of Princess crew member Angelo Faliva continue to fill the newspapers and television airways in Italy as the cruise line continues to keep the Faliva family in the dark. 

U.K. security officer, Officer Michael Groves, has weighed in with his opinion regarding the sorry state of affairs surrounding Princess Cruises' attempt to spin a story that it has no idea what happened to young Angelo Faliva.  In an article entitled "Mystery Surrounds Loss Of Italian Chef Angelo Faliva," Officer Groves writes:

"I read with sadness the news that yet another young, vibrant and seemingly happy crew member has apparently "disappeared" from yet another cruise ship, the Coral Princess and yet the company, his employers can only really round off the incident as “We are really very puzzled . . . We do not know what happened.”

Puzzled – lets look at that word. As we all know its definition means to be perplexed or confused, to ponder or study over some perplexing problem or matter.

Sorry I am more than puzzled, I am appalled! I am appalled that yet again a monolithic liner – a modern ‘floating’ city with reams of close circuit television camera’s (CCTV) affixed to numerous points both internally and most certainly externally on board the Coral Princess, appears to have yielded no footage at all?"    

Princess Cruises' deplorable handling of this case was highlighted by the reportedly cold treatment of Mr. Faliva's sister, Chiara, by the Master of the cruise ship, Captain Mariano Manfuso, after Ms. Faliva traveled from Italy to California - where Princess Cruises is based - to try and find information about her brother.

Why have Princess Cruises and Master Manfuso (photos above and to the right) not cooperated with the Faliva family?  Why has Master Manfuso not turned over copies of all of the vessel's logs and reports to the Faliva family?  

Why didn't Master Manfuso make certain that the cruise ship's surveillance tapes from hundreds of cameras were immediately turned over to the FBI or to the Bermuda investigators?  Why the delay? 

How can I sit in my office in Miami and look online at Princess' grainy bridge cam (below) for the Coral Princess, but Princess' security guards and supervisors can't monitor the hundreds of high resolution surveillance cameras on the ship itself to determine when a crew member goes overboard?

Was Master Manfuso put on the sideline after the cruise line lawyers and risk managers took over the "investigation?" 

Is the cruise line engaged in a cover up? 

What is going on aboard your cruise ship Master Manfuso?  

The world is watching.

Credits:

Top photograph of Captain Manfuso                Flickr photo.klick's photostream

Bottom photograph of Captain Manfuso          mincomercio.gov.co  

Coral Princess bridge cam                                 Coral Princess, Princess Cruises   

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The India Times is continuing to follow the case of Neha Chhikara.

Ms. Chhikara disappeared from Royal Caribbean's Monarch of the Seas on December 31, 2009 following allegations that her husband, Royal Caribbean crew member Ankit Dalal, physically and emotionally abused her.

In an article entitled "Search Operations Off, Gurgaon's Woman's Family Says Husband Has Gone Missing," the Chhikara family alleges that Mr. Dalal has gone “missing” after the Royal Caribbean cruise ship returned to port in Port Canaveral. 

The story reflects the struggle to obtain information which families experience when they lose a loved one from a cruise ship.

The investigating authorities (the Bahamas Maritime Authority and the FBI) have apparently provided no information to the family or the police in India.  The cruise line is not cooperating with the family who does not even know where the Royal Caribbean crew member is at this time.  Meanwhile, the article reports that the police in India are waiting on information from the U.S. before they proceed with their investigation.

Cruise line investigations are highly secretive.  The investigation conducted by Royal Caribbean is designed to protect its own legal interests and its marketing image.  Getting information from the FBI is like squeezing blood from a stone.  And the investigation by the Bahamas - which is the flag country for the cruise ship - will likely be slanted in favor of the cruise line.        

The Chhikara family has not even spoken to their son-in-law.  Certainly Royal Caribbean has interviewed him multiple times.  The cruise line should send these statements to the family now, and not subject them to further torture after losing their daughter on Royal Caribbean's watch.

Credits:

Photograph of Ms. Chhikara     India Times

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Star News in India - which offers viewers "24-hour Hindi news" - has posted a video interview of the family of Neha Chhikara regarding the death of their daughter.

The family claims that Ms. Chhikara's husband, Ankit Dalal, tortured her.  This alleged mistreatment led to her suicide on the Royal Caribbean cruise ship, the Chhikara family contends.    

The video contains photographs of the married couple and family members in earlier times, e-mails sent by Ms. Chhikara from the cruise ship to her brother complaining of abuse, the tearful comments (in Hindu) by the grieving family, and video of the police commenting on the dowry complaint against the Dalal family.  

None of the news sources have obtained comments by the Dala family so far.

This sad story continues to dominate the news in India.

For other articles on Cruise Law News regarding this story, please read:

Wife of Royal Caribbean Crew Member on Monarch of the Seas Goes OverBoard

A Bride's Despair - Did Dowry Dispute Lead to Death?

Dowry Complaint Filed Against Royal Caribbean Crew Member

Credits:

Video             Star News YouTube

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Three newspapers in India are reporting that a Royal Caribbean employee, Ankit Dalal, abused his wife, Neha Chhikara, shortly before she apparently jumped from the Royal Caribbean cruise ship Monarch of the Seas on New Year's Eve.  

Mr. Dalal is identified in a newspaper articles as a manager for Royal Caribbean on the cruise ship. 

We previously reported on this story - Wife of Royal Caribbean Crew Member on Monarch of the Seas Goes OverBoard

The newspapers report Ms. Chhikara married Mr. Dalal in 2008.  His family reportedly demanded additional dowry and was allegedly abusive toward her. 

According to an article entitled "Air Hostess Death at Sea: Kin Cry Foul" in the Times of India, Ms. Chhikara's husband physically and mentally tortured her for additional dowry - as alleged by Ms. Chhikara's family.  Ms. Chhikara previously worked as a flight attendant. 

Ms. Chhikara's father filed what is called a "dowry complaint" with the police in India.

The family alleges that Mr. Dalal mistreated her.  "She was asked to bring cash and jewelry every now and then and when she refused, they would beat her up. Once she was beaten so badly by Dalal that her jaw got dislocated and she also lost her job as air hostess,'' Atul Ahlawat, Ms. Chhikara's cousin, alleges.

The Times of India reports that shortly before she went overboard, Ms. Chhikara emailed her family: 

"I don't think he wants me to work here on the ship  . . .  he keeps threatening to call up security and get me detained by US authorities so that I can never come to the US.  He threatens to handcuff me and lock me up in a cell on the ship  . . ."

The Tribune in India also reports that Ms. Chhikara sent what is called a SOS shortly before her death complaining of being abused.  The India Express, in an article entitled "Gurgaon Woman Jumped Off Cruise Liner," also reports that an e-mail she sent an hour before her death said:

"Ankit has been beating me up every day  . . .  I have lost the strength to live and am very depressed.  I do not think he wants me to work on this ship.  He has threatened me that he would get my appointment canceled  . . .  I am under extreme torture  . . ."

None of the newspapers were able to obtain quotes from Mr. Dalal or his family.

These articles suggest that Ms. Chhikara was about to begin work as a crew member for Royal Caribbean.  Previous PR statements by this cruise line characterize Ms. Chhikara as just a "passenger."  She apparently had applied to Royal Caribbean and been accepted for employment aboard a Royal Caribbean cruise ship.    

This is a sad story to see a young beautiful person's life end, under these alleged circumstances, at the beginning of a new year. 

Credits:

Photograph           IndiaExpress.com

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The Faliva family has expressed their frustration with Princess Cruises' lack of information, the attitude of the cruise ship's captain, and the cruise line's delay in cooperating with investigators following the "disappearance" of Angelo Faliva from the Coral Princess cruise ship on November 25th.

The Italian newspaper Gialli quotes Mr. Faliva's sister, Chiara Faliva, questioning how a cruise ship filled with video surveillance cameras and other crew members can claim that is has no information regarding the disappearance of her brother.  With a December 30th headline of . . .

Mio Fratello è Stato Ucciso? Vogliamo la Verità!- "Was My Brother Killed?  We want the Truth!" 

. . . the newspaper raises issues whether Princess Cruises is withholding information from the Faliva family, investigators, and the public.  

The newspaper article includes a letter from 23 year old Ms. Faliva, the youngest sister of Angelo Faliva, who states that she is united in pain with her family and nearly a thousand friends on FaceBook.

Ms. Faliva's heart-felt public plea for help raises concerns and questions regarding the cruise line's handling of the disappearance:

Mr. Faliva was happy on the cruise ship and enjoyed the ports of call. Just three days before vanishing, he expressed his intention of returning to work for another contract on the cruise ship. The Faliva family completely rejects the notion that he may have committed suicide - which is a PR tactic many cruise lines engage in.  We have written about some cruise lines like Holland America Lines (which, like Princess, is owned by Carnival) quickly concluding that the missing person committed suicide -  "Suicide" - One of the Cruise Lines' Favorite Excuses for Disappearances at Sea.

Mr. Faliva apparently spoke with some passengers in the Sabatini restaurant on the cruise ship, and then left his station around 8:15 p.m.  Yet, the cruise line delayed over 12 hours reporting him missing.  This delayed the search conducted by the Colombian Navy until the afternoon of the following day. 

Why the delay?  How can a crew member who leaves work not be noticed by a supervisor or his fellow employees?

Where were the video cameras positioned?  What are the infrared capabilities?  How can a person "disappear" without any of the 950 other crew members and 2,500 passengers seeing or hearing anything on a cruise ship which is alive 24 hours day?

Why did Princess Cruises delay sending the videotapes to the investigators in Bermuda for almost a month?  Why were these tapes not preserved immediately and seized by the investigators in November?

Who are the passengers in the restaurant who spoke to Mr. Faliva?  And what do they know?

Mr. Faliva apparently had a prior incident of some type with another crewmember, who is identified as a "Filipino sous chef."  Who is he?  Has he been interviewed by the investigators?

Why was the Master of the Coral Princess insensitive to Ms. Faliva after she traveled from Italy to Los Angeles for answers?  Why did he complain that his name appeared in newspapers in Italy?  And why would he spare only 30 minutes of his time and act cold toward her?

Ms. Faliva's letter raises three chilling scenarios:  Did someone kill Mr. Faliva and throw him into the sea?  Did he escape from attackers by jumping overboard, hoping to survive the fall?  The family also raised the ghastly scenario - did someone wanting him to vanish place him into one of the two incinerators located on decks 1 and 2?

This family is approaching 40 days since they learned their son and brother vanished into nothing.  They have just that, nothing, from the cruise line so far.   

Ms. Faliva expresses her family's desire not to lose hope - but not at the expenses of not knowing the truth.  They are displeased - and so should the public reading this story.

For those passengers and crew members on the Coral Princess during this cruise who may know something - speak out, contact the family, the FBI, and the newspapers in Italy covering this important story. 

 Don't let this case be another unexplained mystery.

If you wish to receive articles like this via email, please type your email address in the box to the left or sign up to receive a RSS feed.

Credits:

Photograph of Mr. Faliva in the galley       Italian newspaper Gialli

Coral Princess cruise ship      Brad Graverson / Staff Photographer of the DailyBreeze.com

Mr. Faliva                 msn.com/latinoamerica

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The Associated Press and an Italian newspaper are reporting that a crew member employed by Princess Cruises aboard the Coral Princess cruise ship "disappeared" on either November 25th or 26th. 

The AP article is entitled "Italian Chef Missing at Sea on Caribbean Cruise."

The Italian newspaper Leggo Cronaca's article is entitled "GIALLO SU NAVE DA CROCIERA SCOMPARE CUOCO ITALIANO." (Italian Chef Disappears on Cruise Ship.)

The Princess Cruises crew member is identified as Angelo Faliva, age 31.  Mr. Faliva is employed by the cruise line as a sous chef. 

Conflicting Accounts of When & Where Crew Member "Disappeared"  

The AP reports that there are different accounts regarding when and where crew member Faliva was last seen as the Coral Princess sailed from Aruba to Cartagena, Colombia, between Nov. 25 and 26.

Princess Cruises PR person Julie Benson said Faliva was last seen on a deck at about 8:30 a.m. Thursday, Nov. 26, when he spoke with another crew member as the ship neared Cartagena.

According to the AP, Mr. Faliva's family said they had been told that he had unexpectedly walked out of the ship's galley at about 8:15 p.m. the night before, while he was working the dinner shift, and never returned and hadn't been seen since.

The Faliva family said it was alerted Thursday that he had been reported missing and that a life preserver was also missing, with its nighttime illumination flares torn off and left aboard the ship.

"He surely didn't jump off. It wasn't suicide," his sister Chiara Faliva told the AP from the family's home in Cremona. "We think there was an accident or a homicide."

The Coral Princess left South Florida November 23rd and will arrive in Los Angeles on December  7th at which time the FBI may board the cruise ship.

No Information From Cruise Line PR Department

As expected, Princess PR department claims that Mr. Faliva's cabin had been sealed and the cruise ship was searched.  Princess Cruises also claims that it reviewed the closed circuit television ("CCTV") footage but there is no video of a crew member going overboard.

"Obviously, we're very concerned," Princess' PR representative Julie Benson (left) said. "This is highly unusual and clearly we are concerned for his safety. It very well may be that he went overboard, but we don't know that for a fact."

The AP reports that the commander of the Colombian Coast Guard station in Cartagena, Lt. Javier Sanchez, said officials there received a report from the Coral Princess at 10 a.m. Thursday that one of the cooks had last been seen the night before between 7-8 p.m. when the ship was navigating Colombian waters near La Guajira.

But like the Princess spokeswoman, he too said the Coast Guard received word from the ship later Thursday that a person had seen the chef at about 6 a.m. Thursday morning.

Crew Member Employed Since 2006

According to the AP, Mr. Faliva's sister said her brother had been working for Princess Cruises since 2006 and that this was his third six-month tour with the line. He was a sous chef in the ship's Italian restaurant "Sabatini's."

She said she had received an e-mail from her brother the day before he went missing, and he reported that everything was going well. She said the captain had told the family that her brother had last been seen in the kitchen preparing dinner.

"He left quickly without saying anything to anyone and left the kitchen," she said. "From that point on, they don't know anything."

Over 10 People "Disappear" from Cruise Ships a Year

Contrary to the comments by Princess Cruises' PR department, "missing" passengers and crew members are not "highly unusual."  Over 125 people have gone overboard in the last nine years, according to a Canadian Professor who tracks cruise "disappearances."  22 overboards have been documented for this year alone. The majority of the disappearances have been from the Carnival owned cruise ships. Princess is owned by cruise giant Carnival Corporation.

One of the problems with "disappearances" of passengers and crew members is that the FBI does not board the cruise ship until the end of the cruise.  This leaves preservation of the scene of the disappearance to the cruise lines, which are often motivated by their own legal interests and marketing image.  

Why No CCTV Images?

There is often an issue why the cruise lines are unable to locate CCTV images of the missing crew member or passenger. Mr. Faliva should have been recorded walking in and around the cruise ship and, if he went overboard, on the deck.  The technology has long existed to record passenger and crew overboards. 

There is also technology available for the bridge to be notified when there is an overboard situation on a cruise ship.  We have written about this technology in a prior blog " Update on Missing Passenger From Princess Cruises' Sapphire Princess."     

This cruise ship has a web cam for entertainment purposes for the public, such as the image recorded today from Coral Princess' bridge cam at 2:00 p.m. (Los Angeles time).  Princess Cruises has not offered an explanation regarding how someone can "disappear" without a trace of evidence.  

The Falavi family deserves an explanation regarding what CCTV images exist of their brother and son on the cruise ship.  They should also receive the statements from the security personnel and other crew members regarding the circumstances surrounding Mr. Falavi's disappearance.

We have written about cruise "disappearances" in the past.  For example "Suicide" - One of the Cruise Lines' Favorite Excuses When a Passenger Disappears at Sea.  There is often a tendency of the cruise lines' PR departments to blame the passenger or crew member for going overboard before law enforcement concludes an investigation.      

For those readers who speak Italian, there is also an audio portion of a news report regarding this story.  Recent newspapers from Italy contain additional photographs of the missing crew member, Mr. Faliva, shown here at the stern of the Coral Princess:

Credits:

Mr. Faliva (top)        Falavi Family via Leggo Cronaca newspaper, Italy 

Coral Princess Logo       Brad Graverson / Staff Photographer of the DailyBreeze.com 

Princess PR representative Julie Benson    Twitter @JulieBenson

Coral Princess        Barbara Bagnell (via National Post)

Bridge Cam     Princess Cruises Coral Princess

Mr. Faliva (bottom)           Falavi Family via IlTempo.it 

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