CRUISE SHIP TRAGEDIES Crimes, deaths, missing passengers
The cruise ship industry has come under scrutiny in recent years as survivors of dead or missing passengers and victims of shipboard crimes have protested cruise lines’ handling of the events. A hearing in March before a House Transportation maritime subcommittee might result in legislation to regulate how cruise ships that dock in the United States handle and report crimes. Some notable passenger cases:
Merrian Carver, 40, of Phoenix, Ariz., disappeared from a Royal Caribbean cruise to Alaska Aug. 28, 2004. When her parents pushed for answers into her disappearance, they discovered that even though a steward told his supervisor she had not slept in her cabin since her second night onboard, she was not reported missing.
Hue Pham and Hue Tran, of Westminster, Calif., married 49 years, disappeared from a Carnival Cruise Line ship May 12, 2005, between Barbados and Aruba. The FBI concluded the couple probably fell overboard. Their son, Michael Pham, said the crew waited for more than four hours after the couple were reported missing before notifying Coast Guard officials. It took the ship 12 hours to make it back to the spot where they likely disappeared, he said.
Ashley Barnett, 25, of Burbank, Calif., died Oct. 15, 2005, of a methadone overdose on the Paradise, a Carnival Cruise Line ship. Her boyfriend had brought methadone onboard, but it isn’t known how Barnett, who was staunchly anti-drugs, ingested it. A subsequent hair follicle test showed she wasn’t a habitual drug user. Her mother, Jamie, said the ship left her daughter’s body behind in a Mexican morgue, even though it was scheduled to return to Long Beach, Calif., in 36 hours.
George A. Smith IV, 26, of Greenwich, Conn., disappeared from the Royal Caribbean Brilliance of the Seas between Greece and Turkey on July 5, 2005. He was on his honeymoon. His parents said they were not told of suspicious circumstances in his disappearance, such as blood in his cabin and on a metal covering below his balcony. They said the ship failed to secure the scene and let passengers get off the ship, potentially taking crucial evidence with them. Congress held two hearings in December 2005 and March 2006 after the July 2005 disappearance of Smith.
Laurie Dishman, 36, of Sacramento, Calif., said she was raped aboard Royal Caribbean’s Vision of the Sea on a cruise to the Mexican Riviera Feb. 21, 2006. She said her attacker was a security guard on the ship who had given her unwanted attention earlier in the evening and then forced his way into her cabin. She said he left her passed out with ligature marks around her neck. She said she was expected to collect her own evidence, and that after being interviewed by the FBI, was told the Department of Justice would not prosecute because it was a “he said/she said” case.
Sources: www.internationalcruisevictims.org, the Associated Press, Greenwich Time newspaper.