Copyright CBS News
An 80-year-old cruise passenger has been found dead on a Great Barrier Reef island, a day after she was accidentally abandoned there by the ship's crew. The passenger's daughter Katherine Rees on Thursday accused the cruise company Coral Expeditions of a "failure of care and common sense" that left her mother Suzanne Rees to die alone. Suzanne Rees, a Sydney resident, was on the second day of a cruise circumnavigating Australia 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. "We are shocked and saddened that the Coral Adventurer left Lizard Island after an organised excursion without my Mum," Katherine Rees, who also lives in Sydney, said in a statement. "From 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," the daughter added. Rob Siganto, who was moored near Lizard Island over the weekend, told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. that close to midnight, a search helicopter arrived at the island. "We heard the conversation on the radio. They were looking for someone and the last known location was halfway up the hill," Siganto told the ABC. The helicopter crew spotted Suzanne Rees' body the next day about 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 "find out what the company should have done that might have saved Mum's life." Police said in a statement a coroner would investigate the "non-suspicious death." The coroner's court also confirmed the death had been referred for investigation. "Deeply sorry that this has occurred" 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. "We have expressed our heartfelt condolences to the Rees family and remain deeply sorry that this has occurred," Fifield said in a statement. "We continue to provide our full support to the Rees family through this difficult time," he added. The Coral Adventurer accommodates up to 120 guests and some rooms feature private balconies, according to the company's website. The Australian Maritime Safety Authority, a safety regulator, is investigating why Rees may not have been accounted for when passengers were boarding at Lizard Island. The authority also said it would meet the ship's crew when it is due to dock in Darwin later this week, BBC News reported. The tragedy is also being investigated by a workplace safety watchdog. Rees was first noticed missing when she didn't appear in the ship's dining room for dinner, the newspaper said. The cruise ship returned to Lizard Island early Sunday morning. Incidents like this are rare, and cruise ships have systems to record which passengers are embarking or disembarking, Harriet Mallinson, cruise editor of travel website Sailawaze, told the BBC. "Sneaking ashore or [back] onboard just isn't an option," she said.
