According to a crew member on the AIDAblu, a Filipino galley employee by the first name of “Kennith” died earlier today. The captain made a ship-wide announcement of the seafer’s death.

The crew member who informed us of the death stated that a Filipino priest from Hamburg came onto the cruise ship and presided over a religous ceremony. (AIDAblu was one of two AIDA ships in port in Hamburg). The crew reportedly assembled and prayed in the ship’s theater.

This is the fifth crew member to die unexpectedly on a cruise ship this month.

A week ago, a Chinese crew member on the Mariner of the Seas hired as an assistant waiter was found dead by his colleagues.  On that same day, a Ukranian crew member from the Regal Princess who was employed as a waiter jumped overboard while the ship was in Rotterdam. The day before, an assistant shore excursion manager died on the Carnival Breeze which was sailing to the U.K. from Bahamian waters. Sixteen days ago we reported that a Polish electrician on the Royal Caribbean Jewel of the Seas went overboard south of Greece.

Indian politicians has complained in the past few days that crew members were stuck on AIDA cruise ships, including the AIDAblu, and sought methods to expedite their repatriation. A week ago, 239 Filipino seafarers, including 188 crew members from the AIDAblu, were repatriated to the Philippines with the help of the Philippine Consulate in Frankfurt. It is less than clear why this crew member was not repatriated with this group of seafarers.

Crew Center published an article earlier this evening about the tragedy. Crew Center wrote that ever since this pandemic started it received many messages from Aida Cruises crew members. “All of the messages were positive experiences shared by the crew praising the company for their honesty and transparency towards the crew. Many of the crew underlined the special care of their managers on board always looking after each and every crew member’s needs and mental health . . . Still with all the care provided this tragedy struck the crew community, showing how hard this lockdown affects all the crew.”

Prayers to this crew members, his family and friends and colleagues on the ship. Rest in Peace.

Please feel free to leave your tributes here.

A GoFundMe page has been set up for Memorial Donations For Kennex Bundaon. The page states that he had a daughter in the Philippines. Please consider making a donation.

Photo credit: Martin Falbisoner – CC BY-SA 4.0, commons / wikimedia.

May19. 2020 Update: The crew member has been identified as Kennex Mingas Bundaon by the CruiseMapper website.