An 80-year-old woman (grandmother Suzanne Rees) was found dead on October 26 after being abandoned on a cruise hiking excursion on Lizard Island, Australia. The woman was on the second day of a 60-day Coral Expeditions cruise.
The ship, the Coral Adventurer, did not notify authorities that the woman was missing until hours after it departed the island. The woman’s body was found the next morning, after a search helicopter located her 50 meters off the hiking trail.
According to a statement made by the woman’s daughter, Katherine Rees, there were high temperatures on the day of the guided excursion. Local weather reports indicate the temperature was 89.4°F (31.9°C). She said her mother felt ill and was told to return to the ship alone.
Local newspapers suggest she slipped or fell off the trail on her way down. The woman never made it back to the ship.
Her daughter’s statement summarizes the carelessness of Coral Expeditions: “From the little we have been told, it seems that there was a failure of care and common sense.”
Her statement is spot on. Telling an elderly woman to hike alone in hot weather when she is feeling ill is reckless. Even worse is not accounting for her missing when the passenger capacity of the Coral Adventurer is only 120. Lastly, Coral Expeditions runs its own shore excursions. There should have been clear communication between the excursion crew and the ship.
The Australian Maritime Safety Authority is investigating why the cruise line did not account for the missing woman when passengers boarded the ship.
Mark Fifield, an executive at Coral Expeditions, said, “We have expressed our heartfelt condolences to the Rees family and remain deeply sorry that this has occurred. We continue to provide our full support to the Rees family through this difficult time.”
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Image Credit: Lizard Island – Wikipedia; Coral Adventurer – Coral Expeditions
The article claims that the cruise ship was understaffed, under intense time pressure, and pressure on staff to ignore warning signs . It was another passenger who finally noticed the 80 year old woman was missing from the ship; the crew thought that she must have gone overboard. Yet, the ship didn’t turn around for 5 or 6 hours after it left the island. The whole mantra of the company is that it is “safe for old people, that it exclusively look after old people . . . this is insane.” (payroll protected)