Daughter criticises Australia cruise operator after mother dies on island

The daughter of a woman who was left behind by a cruise ship on a remote island and later died has accused the operator of “carelessness and lack of common sense”.

The body of 80-year-old Suzanne Rees was found by rescuers on Lizard Island in the Great Barrier Reef on Sunday. He had been walking on the island with his fellow passengers the previous day, but was not on the ship when he set off hours later.

Katherine Rees said she was “shocked and saddened” that the Coral Adventurer, who she described as a healthy, active, keen gardener and hiker, was left “motherless”.

“From what we’ve been told, there seems to be a lack of care and common sense,” he said Thursday.

Suzanne Rees, from New South Wales, is understood to be on the first stop of a 60-day cruise around Australia that left Cairns earlier this week.

Passengers who paid tens of thousands of dollars to join the cruise were transported to the private island for a day trip with options for hiking or snorkeling.

Suzanne joined a group hike to Cook’s Look, the island’s highest peak, but was separated from the others because she needed to rest.

“We learned from the police that it was a very hot day and my mother had fallen ill while climbing the hill,” said Katherine.

“He was asked to go down unaccompanied. The ship then set sail, apparently without counting passengers.

“At some stage or shortly after this process, my mother died alone.”

Katherine said she hoped the criminal investigation would “reveal what the company should have done that could have saved my mother’s life.”

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (Amsa) said it was investigating the death and would meet the ship’s crew when it was due to dock in Darwin later this week.

An Amsa spokesman said the missing woman was first alerted by the ship’s captain at around 21:00 local time on Saturday.

A search party returned to the island a few hours later, but after efforts to find Suzanne were canceled early Sunday, a helicopter returned in the morning and found her body.

On Wednesday the chief executive of Coral Expeditions said the company was “deeply saddened” by the death and offered its support to the Rees family.

“We are working closely with Queensland Police and other authorities to support their investigation. We cannot comment further while this process is ongoing,” Mark Fifield said.

According to the company’s website, the Coral Adventurer can accommodate up to 120 guests with 46 crew members. It was built to provide access to remote areas of the Australian coast and was equipped with “tenders”, small boats used to pick up passengers on day trips.

Sailawaze travel site editor Harriet Mallinson told the BBC that such incidents were rare and that cruise ships had systems in place to record which passengers boarded or disembarked.

“Sneaking ashore or [back] “Being on a ship is not an option,” he said.

Ms Mallinson added that cruise lines take these procedures very seriously and “have smart technology in place to prevent such incidents from occurring”.