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.
Investigators search for answers in death of elderly cruise passenger
