 "Suzanne Rees hailed from Australia’s New South Wales. Her daughter Katherine has said the entire family has been left 'shocked and saddened' by the incident. Image courtesy: X/@TrueCrimeUpdat")
An 80-year-old woman has died after being abandoned on a remote island by a cruise ship.
The woman, Suzanne Rees, was on a 60-day luxury cruise around Australia. She and other passengers had disembarked at Lizard Island on the Great Barrier Reef over the weekend.
The cruise ship, Coral Adventurer, which is part of Coral Expeditions, left the island without Rees, whose body was found on the island the next day.
Australian authorities have said that they are investigating and that they will interview the crew later this week.
But who is Rees? What happened to her on the remote island?
Let’s take a closer look.
What we know
Rees hailed from Australia’s New South Wales.
She boarded the Coral Adventurer from Cairns earlier this week for a two-month trip around Australia, for which she’d paid $52,000 (around Rs 46.1 lakh). On Saturday, the ship docked at Lizard Island, around 250 kilometres away from Cairns. Passengers were told they could either hike or go snorkelling.
Rees and some other passengers decided to hike to Cook’s Look – the top peak of Lizard Island, a four-kilometre trail. Rees’ family have said they were told by the police that it was a hot day and Rees felt ill during her climb to the top. She was then told to head back down to the ship alone.
“We understand from the police that it was a very hot day, and Mum felt ill on the hill climb. She was asked to head down, unescorted. Then the ship left, apparently without doing a passenger count. At some stage in that sequence, or shortly after, Mum died, alone.”
Coral Adventurer then left Lizard Island on Saturday – either in the late afternoon or at sunset. The ship returned to the island five hours later after Rees failed to appear for dinner. Satellite data shows that the ship turned around at 9 pm and reached the island in the early hours of Sunday.
A search party was sent out to find Rees but was eventually called off. Rees’ body was eventually found on Sunday around 50 metres from the hiking trail to Cook’s Look by a helicopter.
‘Shocked and saddened’
Rees’ daughter Katherine has said the entire family has been left “shocked and saddened”. “From the little we have been told, it seems that there was a failure of care and common sense.”
Katherine said her mother was a healthy and active gardener and even part of a bushwalking group. “I hope that the coronial inquiry will find out what the company should have done that might have saved Mum’s life,” Katherine added.
Coral Expeditions CEO Mark Fifield was quoted as saying, “We are deeply sorry that this has occurred and are offering our full support to the woman’s family.”
“The Coral team has been in contact with the woman’s family, and we will continue to offer support to them through this difficult process.
“We are working closely with Queensland Police and other authorities to support their investigation. We are unable to comment further while this process is underway. We are unable to comment further while this process is under way.”
Queensland Police, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) and the Coroners Court are all investigating Rees’ death. The Australian Maritime Safety Authority and Queensland Police have called Rees’ death “sudden and non-suspicious”.
AMSA said it was notified about the incident around 9 pm on Saturday. It said it assisted the Queensland Police in a search and rescue operation. AMSA said its members will meet the crew of the Coral Adventurer later this week when the ship docks at Darwin.
“AMSA will make an assessment as to whether there was any non-compliance associated with the passenger not being counted onto the ship and, if necessary, will take action to address them,” it said in a statement.
“AMSA offers its condolences to the family and loved ones of the person who has passed. Our thoughts are with them during this difficult time.”
The Coral Adventurer can carry up to 120 guests and around four dozen crew. Made to access the remote areas of Australia’s coast, it comes with small boats that can be used to ferry passengers to spots like Lizard Island. Rooms with a balcony view on the Coral Adventurer can cost as much as $80,000 (about Rs 70.9 lakh).
Traci Ayris, who was on a ship near Lizard Island, raised “questions about safety protocols and a delayed start to the search due to it not being known that the woman was missing”, as per the Cairns Post.
“They did headcounts for snorkellers [which we heard] but not for other guests on the island it would seem,” she said. “The last people came down from the track and got into the tender, then the [ship] left very soon after that,” Ayris added.
She said rescue operations involving several of the crew members and a helicopter went on till 3 am.
“The chopper arrived [again] at first light and it went directly to Telstra Rock [where she was last seen] and immediately it hovered then went straight to the airstrip,” she said.
“We knew that it had found her and the lack of activity told us that she was clearly dead. She lay there all day and was finally airlifted [just before 4 pm].”
“We all felt so much for the Lizard Island Resort crew and the crews from [the] ships. You could hear the devastation in their voices [on the radio],” Ayris told ABC. “It was very sad in this paradise to have this tragedy occur. It should have been a happy time for that lovely lady.”
What do experts say?
Experts say such tragic incidents are rare.
Harriet Mallinson, cruise editor of travel website Sailawaze, told the BBC cruise ships have a way to record which passengers are getting on and off.
“Sneaking ashore or [back] onboard just isn’t an option,” she said. They have “clever tech in place to prevent such incidents from happening. This is most likely a shocking and tragic one-off.”
Sydney-based cruising expert Adrian Tassone told the Daily Mail that companies try to ensure passengers are accounted for at all times.
“This ship held a maximum of 120 passengers, so I struggle to understand how a headcount wasn’t conducted,” Tassone said. “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.
“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.”
With inputs from agencies