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

Neighbors of Ms. Edelgard Carney who disappeared from the Princess Cruises' Sapphire Princess indicate that she never intended to return home once she left California.  

Vancouverite, a newspaper in Vancouver, Canada, reports that Ms. Carney sold her $300,000 house to the Catholic Church for just $125,000, left her furniture and disposed of her personal belongings.  

If in fact this is a suicide, it seems to be very painful to the surviving family members for a loved one to choose this method to end her life.

The cruise line has been careful not to release self serving comments regarding Ms. Carney's disappearance.  In August, following the disappearance of passenger Amber Malkuch in Alaskan waters, Holland America Line (HAL) issued a PR statement labeling her death a probable suicide. There were no facts supporting this theory and the FBI had not even concluded its investigation.  HAL was roundly and rightfully criticized for such a publicity spin. In this case, Princess Cruises is going to avoid that PR debacle by waiting for an announcement by the U.S. Coast Guard or Canadian authorities.

Questions remain why Princess Cruises did not detect the passenger overboard earlier.  The newspaper indicates that the cruise line caused confusion after telling the U.S. Coast Guard that the passenger fell overboard on Monday when she actually disappeared on Tuesday.  This caused the U.S. Coast Guard to search nearer to the Alaskan Coastline rather Canadian authorities searching in Canadian waters.    

Update:

According to the Vancouver Sun, a representative of the Canada's Royal Canadian Mounted Police has concluded that this appears to be a suicide: “She was by herself, and the video shows her jumping off.”

The newspaper states that Ms. Carney had a life-threatening illness.

The video is reported to show Ms. Carney jumping off of the stern of the cruise ship.

A commenter to out blog previously noted that while on this cruise ship he noticed: "video cameras similar to ones used in our apartment bldg. pointing across/down on the stern of the ship ostensibly to view the rear waters area."

Although Ms. Carney is reported to have jumped Tuesday morning, it took Princess Cruises until Thursday afternoon to even find the video. Either Princess Cruises does not have a policy to monitor their exterior cameras or no one was paying attention. 

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The U.S. Coast Guard is now reporting that the missing California passenger, Ms. Edelgard Carney, went overboard at 6:08 a.m. Tuesday, 200 miles south of Ketchikan.  An announcement with such a specific time obviously means that there are closed circuit surveillance tapes which captured images which precisely document the time the passenger went overboard.

Previously, news sources reported that Ms. Carney disappeared on Monday evening.

There is technology available to the cruise industry for surveillance cameras to be triggered by motion with an alarm being immediately sent to the bridge to alert the cruise ship's officers that a passenger has gone overboard.  This system would capture the video and permit immediate notification of the emergency. Tracking devices would drop into the water so that the exact location of the passenger overboard could be determined.

Some - but certainly not all - cruise lines employ "surveillance camera operators" whose job descriptions require that the cameras be monitored 24 hours for passenger safety and security.  Are these cameras and their operators focused on the rails on the port and starboard sides of the cruise ship?  Or are they focused just on the casino or other similar locations to prevent theft of the cruise ship's money?

There are no regulations which apply to foreign flagged cruise ships regarding this issue.  They pretty much do whatever they want.  What are Princess Cruises' polices and procedures? 

Princess Cruises provides a low tech cam from the bridge of the Sapphire Princess on its web site for customers to take a look & see.  Are their crew members monitoring the surveillance cameras on the ship?  

Has Princess Cruises made a decision to utilize technology for immediate notification of passenger over boards?  If not, why not?   

Photo credit:

Sapphire Princess Bridge Cam         Princess Cruises

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A criminal trial begins this week in Australia in the case of cruise passenger Dianne Brimble, a passenger sailing with her children on P & O Cruises’ Pacific Sky in 2002. It has been seven years since Ms. Brimble’s ill fated cruise which ended with her death. A coroner determined the cause of her demise to be a date rape drug given to her by another passenger, Mark Wilhelm, who is now finally standing trial for her death.

There is a danger on cruise ships of being given a date rape drug by either a crew member or another passenger.

There are a couple of different date rape drugs. One is called “GHB.” The scientific name is Gamma Hydroxybutyric acid. It is also be called “grievous bodily harm.” Another is Funitrazepam, called Rohypnol or commonly known as “roofies.” These drugs are clear, tasteless, and odorless - similar to water. When combined with alcohol the drug will incapacitate unsuspecting victims and cause slurred speech, sedation, unconsciousness and death. Even without alcohol, Rohypnol is ten times stronger than Valium. Rapists use these drugs to knock their victims out.

These drugs are readily available in foreign ports, particularly in Mexico. Crew members or passengers going ashore can easily obtain “roofies” or “GHB” and bring the drugs back to the cruise ship.  One of our clients was given a spiked drink by a bartender on a cruise ship returning from Mexico. Interviewed by Time magazine in an article entitled "Crime Rocks the Boats," she reported "her legs go rubbery and her mind turn to mush as the bartender led her to an employees-only restroom and raped her before she passed out cold."

If proper blood and urine testing is not performed in a timely manner after the rape, the drugs will not be detected. Cruise ships are notorious for having ill equipped medical facilities and incompetent or indifferent staff. It is important for passengers to use the same safeguards you would use in a bar ashore:

• Ask bartenders or bar servers to open your beverages in front of you.
• Watch your drinks.
• Don’t leave your drinks unattended when you go on the dance floor or to the ladies room.
• Stay with your group of friends.
• Realize that crimes occur routinely on cruise ships.
• Have fun - but don’t let your guard down.
• If you are a victim of rape, insist that the ship doctor take blood and urine samples immediately.

Ms. Brimble’s family joined International Cruise Victims (“ICV”) organization to bring awareness to the problem of cruise ship crime. Mr. Brimble is the President of the ICV chapter in Australia. Information regarding Ms. Brimble is available on the ICV website.

Photo Credits:

International Cruise Victims - photo of Dianne Brimble

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