MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) 鈥� An 80-year-old cruise passenger has been found dead on a island, a day after she was accidentally abandoned there by the ship鈥檚 crew.
The passenger鈥檚 daughter Katherine Rees on Thursday accused the cruise company Coral Expeditions of a 鈥渇ailure of care and common sense鈥� that left her mother Suzanne Rees to die alone.
Suzanne Rees, a Sydney resident, was on the second day of a cruise circumnavigating when she disembarked the Coral Adventurer last Saturday at Lizard Island. She planned to hike with other passengers to a mountain lookout.
The ship left the resort island around five hours before reporting her missing late on Saturday, officials said.
鈥淲e are shocked and saddened that the Coral Adventurer left Lizard Island after an organised excursion without my Mum,鈥� Katherine Rees, who also lives in Sydney, said in a statement.
鈥淔rom the little we have been told, it seems that there was a failure of care and common sense. 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,鈥� the daughter added.
The crew of a search helicopter spotted Suzanne Rees鈥� body the next day about 50 meters (55 yards) off the hiking trail to the lookout, The Australian newspaper reported.
She appeared to have fallen from a cliff or slope, the newspaper said.
Katherine Rees said she hoped a coroner’s inquiry would 鈥渇ind out what the company should have done that might have saved Mum鈥檚 life.鈥�
Police said in a statement a coroner would investigate the 鈥渘on-suspicious death.鈥� The coroner’s court also confirmed the death had been referred for investigation.
Coral Expeditions chief executive Mark Fifield said his company was fully cooperating with official investigations into the death. He said it would be inappropriate to comment while those investigations were underway.
鈥淲e have expressed our heartfelt condolences to the Rees family and remain deeply sorry that this has occurred,鈥� Fifield said in a statement.
鈥淲e continue to provide our full support to the Rees family through this difficult time,鈥� he added.
The , a safety regulator, is investigating why Rees may not have been accounted for when passengers were boarding at Lizard Island.
The tragedy is also being investigated by a workplace safety watchdog.
Rees was first noticed missing when she didn鈥檛 appear in the ship’s dining room for dinner, the newspaper said.
The cruise ship returned to Lizard Island early Sunday morning.
Australia鈥檚 safety standards for its Great Barrier Reef tourism industry came under intense scrutiny after American couple Tom and Eileen Lonergan were abandoned at sea during a group scuba dive in 1998. The tour boat crew didn鈥檛 realize they were missing until two days later. The Lonergans’ bodies were never found.
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