Passenger, 80, found dead on remote island after cruise ship leaves without her

An 80-year-old cruise passenger has been found dead on a remote Australian island, a day after she was accidentally left there by the ship’s crew.

Suzanne Rees was on the second day of a cruise around Australia when she disembarked the Coral Adventurer last Saturday at Lizard Island on the Great Barrier Reef.

She planned to hike with other passengers to a mountain lookout, but did not make it back to the cruise ship before it sailed. She was later found dead several metres from the path, having apparently fallen.

The ship left the resort island around five hours before reporting her missing late on Saturday, officials said.

Her daughter, Katherine Rees, accused the cruise company Coral Expeditions of 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,” her daughter said.

“Then the ship left, apparently without doing a passenger count. At some stage in that sequence, or shortly after, Mum died, alone.”

The crew of a search helicopter spotted Ms Rees’ body the next day, about 50 metres 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 that a coroner would investigate the “non-suspicious death.” 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.

“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 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 tragedy is also being investigated by a workplace safety watchdog.