Tragic reports are speaking about the death of an elderly cruise passenger who passed away after the cruise ship she was scheduled to be on left without her.

80-year-old Suzanne Rees was on the cruise ship Coral Adventurer that’s operated by Coral Expeditions. She died on Lizard Island after failing to return to the ship.

She had reportedly taken part in the guided hiking excursion to Cook’s Look on the island on 25 October.

During this hike, she reportedly became unwell due to serious heat, elected to descend ahead of the group, and returned unescorted. Meanwhile, the Coral Adventurer left the island at dusk without noticing her absence. It was not until she failed to appear for the evening meal, a few hours later, that her absence was flagged. A search and rescue operation was also carried out overnight.

The entailed sea, land, and aerial assets. The next day, her remains were retrieved nearly 50 meters off the hiking trail. Queensland Police mentioned how the death was a sudden and non-suspicious incident.

Investigations were opened up by teh AMSA and workplace safaty regulators to see how she went un-accounted for and if proper passenger verification protocols were followed. Her family has expressed serious shock and cited what they believed in was a failure of care and common sense.