A Tragic Incident on Lizard Island
An 80-year-old woman, who was part of a cruise ship journey, is believed to have fallen off a cliff after failing to board the vessel. The incident occurred during the initial stages of her £40,000 dream voyage. The crew of the Coral Adventurer ship only realized she was missing when she did not show up for dinner.
The crew reported the woman missing at 10pm local time, five hours after the vessel had left her behind on Lizard Island, a remote location in the Great Barrier Reef. According to a report in The Australian, the ship’s crew initially thought the solo traveler might have fallen overboard.
Authorities are now investigating whether the elderly woman, who was found dead after failing to board the cruise ship, could have been saved. Police and the coroner launched an investigation into the death of the woman on the remote Far North Queensland island, where she had been on the first stop of the 60-day circumnavigation of Australia.
Investigators are looking into various factors, including how and why she was stranded. Other factors include why the search was delayed and whether the woman could have been saved from the popular tourist spot.
The Sequence of Events
Crew members alerted the Australian Maritime Safety Authority’s (AMSA) Canberra-based 24/7 emergency hotline, the Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre, on Saturday night—long after the woman was due to re-board the NRMA-owned Coral Expeditions cruise ship.
The death came just a day after the Coral Adventurer kicked off its journey, embarking from Cairns on Friday afternoon. The ship then anchored off Lizard Island on Saturday, where passengers could take a smaller boat to hike and snorkel on the resort island, 90km northeast of Cooktown.
Authorities believe the deceased woman was hiking Lizard Island’s highest summit off the Far North Queensland coast on Saturday. It is understood that the woman was part of a group walking up to the Cook’s Look summit when she stopped and became lost on her way back to the ship.
“The group continued on and boarded the vessel before realizing she was not there,” a source told The Australian. Another source claimed that the woman had fallen from a cliff.
Eyewitness Accounts and Delays in Search
Yachtie Traci Ayris raised ‘questions about safety protocols and a delayed start to the search due to it not being known that the woman was missing,’ the Cairns Post reported. Ms Ayris and her partner Matthew, who were aboard SV Vellamo anchored near Lizard Island, were listening to emergency radio transmissions sent from the Coral Expeditions vessel.
“They did headcounts for snorkellers (which we heard) but not for other guests on the island it would seem,” Ms Ayris told the Cairns Post. “The last people came down from the track and got into tender then the (ship) left very soon after that.”
“There was not a lot of time between when the last passengers left the beach to when they up anchored. We even commented, ‘Wow they left fast’.”
Vessel Finder showed the Coral Adventurer sailed back towards Lizard Island about 9pm on Saturday and arrived at about 2am on Sunday. Ms Ayris told the Cairns Post a helicopter began an aerial search at about midnight but after arriving, seven crew from the Coral Adventurer went ashore and joined the search of the mountain by torchlight.
“We watched the search up the mountain,” Ms Ayris said. “Until the search was called off around 3am and then (resumed) again at first light. The chopper arrived at first light and it went directly to Telstra Rock (where she was last seen) and immediately it hovered then went straight to the air strip.”
“The couple also posted on their SV Vellamo Facebook page the tragedy was ‘very sad for everyone involved.’ ‘Never a dull moment at Lizard. Sadly we witnessed a terrible incident where a hiker from a cruise ship was (possibly) left behind and was found later deceased. It took all day for repatriation of the poor hiker from the mountainside. It left us all feeling very sad for everyone involved.’”
Ongoing Investigations and Responses
Australian Maritime Safety Authority officials will meet the 112-passenger Coral Adventurer when it docks in Darwin on Sunday. The cruise ship is currently in waters off Thursday Island in the Torres Strait as the $80,000-a-ticket voyage continues.
Coral Expeditions confirmed the woman’s death to the Daily Mail. “The crew notified authorities that a woman was missing, and a search and rescue operation was launched on land and sea,” chief executive Mark Fifield said. “Following the operation, Coral Expeditions was notified by Queensland Police that the woman had been found deceased on Lizard Island.”
“While investigations into the incident are continuing, we are deeply sorry that this has occurred and are offering our full support to the woman’s family. The Coral team has been in contact with the woman’s family, and we will continue to offer support to them through this difficult process. We are working closely with Queensland Police and other authorities to support their investigation. We are unable to comment further while this process is underway.”
Expert Reactions and Safety Concerns
Cruising expert Adrian Tassone admitted he had no idea how it could have occurred. “That’s something I’m really struggling to understand myself,” he said. “Cruise lines in normal operation will always know who is on the ship and who isn’t. If the reports are to be believed and this woman was left on the island, I really can’t understand how that occurred.”
“It’s something that most people are questioning and are trying to come to grips with.” Mr. Tassone said that many cruise companies have strict systems in place, such as headcounts, to ensure all passengers are accounted for at all times. “It’s atypical from the regular cruise environment. This ship held a maximum of 120 passengers, so I struggle to understand how a headcount wasn’t conducted.”
