Nov. 5 (UPI) — Australian maritime safety officials boarded the Coral Adventurer on Wednesday, 10 days after the cruise ship left behind an 80-year-old passenger who later died on a sparsely populated island in the Great Barrier Reef.
Investigators from the Australian Maritime Safety Authority went onto the vessel as part of a probe into how a scheduled excursion on Lizard Island ended with the cruise departing without 80-year-old Suzanne Rees back on board last month. The ship dropped anchor off Cairns, Queensland, on Wednesday amid the investigation.
Suzanne Rees’ family said police told them the woman was hiking on the island on Oct. 25 with fellow passengers when she felt unwell due to the heat and was instructed to return to the ship unescorted.
But Suzanne Rees never arrived, and the ship later left, apparently without conducting a head count.
“At some stage in that sequence, or shortly after, Mum died, alone,” said the woman’s daughter, Katherine Rees, who added that her mother was in good health and belonged to a hiking club at home in Sydney.
More than 60 miles into the next leg of the voyage and upon realizing Suzanne Rees was not on board, the crew reported her missing, turned the ship around and returned to the island to search for her, arriving at 3:25 a.m. Searchers found her dead the next morning following a major land and sea search.
AMSA was looking into the circumstances surrounding the incident together with the state’s police, coroner, and Workplace Health and Safety agency but declined to respond to questions submitted by the BBC.
Queensland police said Suzanne Rees’ death was being treated as “non-suspicious” and that it was preparing a report for the coroner.
“As the matter is currently before the coroner, we are unable to provide any further information,” police said.
Cruise operator Coral Expeditions said the company was cooperating with AMSA and the other investigations being conducted.
Lizard Island was the first stop on a 60-day cruise around Australia that departed Cairns on Oct. 24. All inclusive balconey cabins were priced at $56,000 per person.
The cruise continued on its way for several days, but was eventually canceled on Oct. 29 with all passengers leaving the ship at Horn Island off Queensland’s Cape York Peninsula over the weekend. A charter plane stood by to fly them back to the mainland.
