The daughter of an elderly woman, who was left behind by a cruise ship on a remote Australian island, said the “failure of care and common sense” led to her mother’s tragic passing.
Suzanne Rees, 80, paid more than $50,000 for a dream voyage aboard the Coral Adventurer.
But the very day after she boarded the luxury cruise, her body was found on Lizard Island, leaving her family “shocked and saddened.”
Suzanne Rees was left lost and alone on a remote Australian island in her final moments
Image credits: thenightly.com.au
The Australian retiree had boarded the Coral Adventurer cruise on Friday, October 24 for a 60-day journey starting from Cairns.
The next day, the cruise had its first stop on a Great Barrier Reef island, where she and her fellow passengers disembarked and went to Lizard Island on smaller boats.
Image credits: 10News
It is believed Suzanne joined a group of hikers on a 2.5-mile trail to Cook’s Look, the island’s highest peak.
“We understand from the police that it was a very hot day, and Mom fell ill on the hill climb,” Suzanne’s daughter Katherine told The Australian.
The elderly woman broke off from the group at some point after growing tired.
“She was asked to head down, unescorted,” the daughter claimed.
The elderly woman joined a group of hikers to the highest peak on the island but grew tired on the way
Image credits: 7NEWS Australia
The Coral Adventurer cruise resumed its journey and left the island at around 3:40 p.m., completely oblivious to the fact that the elderly passenger was still on the island.
It was only at around 6 p.m. during dinner time that fellow passengers and crew members realized she was missing.
Image credits: thenightly.com.au
“The ship left, apparently without doing a passenger count. At some stage in that sequence, or shortly after, Mom d**d, alone,” Katherine said.
The mother spent her final moments lost and alone on the remote island.
The family said the ship’s “failure of care and common sense” led to the mother’s tragic passing
Image credits: news.com.au
“From the little we have been told, it seems that there was a failure of care and common sense,” Katherine said.
The family is “shocked and saddened that the Coral Adventurer left Lizard Island after an organised excursion without my mum, Suzanne,” the daughter added.
An investigation is underway to find out the circumstances that led to Suzanne’s passing.
“I hope that the coronial inquiry will find out what the company should have done that might have saved Mom’s life,” she added.
Image credits: 7NEWS Australia
The CEO of Coral Expeditions Mark Fifield said the company was “deeply sorry” about the events that unfolded and was offering support to the Rees family.
“We are working closely with Queensland Police and other authorities to support their investigation. We are unable to comment further while this process is under way,” Mark said in a statement.
The CEO of Coral Expeditions Mark Fifield said the company was “deeply sorry” about the events that unfolded
Image credits: 7NEWS Australia
Cruising expert Adrian Tassone said cruise ships normally have systems to ensure all passengers are onboard.
When asked how a grave error like this could occur, Adrian said on the Sunrise show, “That’s something that I am really struggling with trying to understand myself.”
“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,” he continued.
He said most people are trying to “come to grips” with what happened.
Cruising expert Adrian Tassone said cruise ships normally have systems to ensure all passengers are onboard
Image credits: CoralExpeditions
“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,” he added.
The Coral Adventurer has the capacity to accommodate up to 120 passengers and 46 crew members, and Adrian said he struggled to understand how a headcount wasn’t carried out.
Image credits: 10News
“Typically, you get on a cruise ship and you scan a card that is your key card, which indicates when you’re on and off the ship. Those manifests I understand are across all cruise lines,” he said on the show.
“I don’t know if Coral Expeditions operates in a different manner to that, but I am really surprised something more robust isn’t in place that should have prevented this from happening.”
“It’s indicative of how this country is treating its elderly,” one commented online
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