🔗 Share this article

One 60-day cruise circling the Land Down Under has been cancelled following the fatal incident of an senior lady who was abandoned by the cruise liner on a isolated coastal location.

Suzanne Rees had been trekking on the remote island with shipmates from the cruise ship, but parted ways from the group for a rest. The ship departed without her and went back several hours later after the crew became aware the woman was missing.

An extensive rescue mission found her body the subsequent day.

Authorities are looking into the event, in coordination with law enforcement and the medical examiner.

Chief Executive of the voyage organizer said that guests and staff on the ship were told that the continuation of the journey had been terminated due to the "sad loss and prior technical problems".

Via official communication, he mentioned that guests would be issued a full refund, and said the organization was working "to coordinate the return journeys of the travelers via specially arranged planes".

Authorities also published an updated communication, and said they had "issued a notice to the Captain" preventing any further travelers from boarding the liner.

The representative said that they would attend the vessel in Cairns upon its coming back.

Sequence of Incidents

The vessel originally sailed from Cairns on 24 October, and was merely two days into the journey at the time of the 80-year-old's passing. The remote island was the initial destination on the journey.

Guests on board - who typically pay substantial amounts of currency to participate in the cruise - were taken there for a day trip with the possibility of hiking or snorkelling.

Relatives Response

The offspring of the elderly passenger said that her family was "stunned and saddened that the liner left Lizard Island after an organised excursion without my mum".

Through her comments, she characterized her parent as an "vigorous elderly person" who was a member of a hiking group.

"According to scant information we have been told, it appears that there was a lapse of care and common sense," she stated.

She added that she hoped the inquiry would be able to determine what "the operator should have performed that might have saved Mother's existence".

"Based on information from the investigators that it was a very hot period, and she fell ill on the mountain ascent," she explained.

"She was asked her to return, without accompaniment. Then the boat sailed away, reportedly without performing a roll call.

"At a certain moment in that sequence, or shortly after, mum died, alone."

Company Response

In a statement, the CEO verified that the organization was "cooperating fully with authorities to aid their inquiry".

He stated that the company was "extremely apologetic that this has transpired" and had extended its full support to the relatives.

Shipping Sector Standards

The liner caters for up to 120 passengers with forty-six crew, according to official details. It was specially constructed to reach isolated regions of the Australian shoreline and is equipped with "small boats" - minor craft used to transport passengers on shore trips.

Events like this are uncommon, and liners have protocols to record which passengers are embarking or getting off, according to industry experts.

"Going ashore secretly or [back] aboard really isn't an option," one expert commented.

Vessel operators regard these methods extremely carefully and have "sophisticated systems in place to avoid such occurrences from occurring," the authority added.

"This appears to be most likely a shocking - and unfortunate - isolated incident."