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A 60-day journey through Australia has been cancelled following the tragic passing of an older female passenger who was stranded by the ship on a remote island.

Suzanne Rees had been hiking on Lizard Island with fellow passengers from the vessel, but broke off from the group for a rest. The ship departed without her and came back after some time after the ship staff became aware the lady was not present.

A large-scale hunt discovered her person the following day.

Investigative bodies are looking into the tragedy, together with law enforcement and the medical examiner.

Head of the cruise operator stated that guests and personnel on the vessel were informed that the remainder of the voyage had been called off due to the "tragic passing and earlier engine troubles".

Via official communication, he further stated that guests would be given a full refund, and said the organization was working "to organize the travel back of the travelers via chartered flights".

Authorities also published an latest communication, and said they had "provided a directive to the Captain" preventing any further travelers from getting on the liner.

The spokesperson said that they would visit the liner in the Australian city upon its return.

Timeline of Occurrences

The vessel first departed the Australian port on October 24th, and was only 48 hours into the expedition at the time of the 80-year-old's passing. The remote island was the opening port on the voyage.

Travelers on the ship - who usually pay substantial amounts of currency to join the expedition - were transported there for a daily excursion with the possibility of walking or snorkelling.

Family Reaction

The daughter of the victim said that her loved ones was "surprised and distressed that the liner left the location after an planned outing without my parent".

Via her announcement, she portrayed her mother as an "vigorous octogenarian" who was a member of a hiking group.

"From the little information we have been informed, it looks that there was a breakdown of care and ordinary reasoning," she stated.

She further stated that she hoped the investigation would be able to pinpoint what "the company should have performed that might have saved Mum's life".

"According to reports from the investigators that it was a extremely warm afternoon, and mum fell ill on the mountain ascent," she stated.

"Officials suggested her to head down, alone. Then the vessel left, apparently without doing a passenger count.

"At some stage in that process, or soon after, mother succumbed, without company."

Company Response

In a statement, the Chief Executive verified that the organization was "collaborating extensively with officials to aid their examination".

He said that the organization was "deeply sorry that this has happened" and had offered its total backing to the relatives.

Cruise Industry Practices

The liner serves up to 120 passengers with 46 staff, according to company details. It was specifically designed to reach distant locations of the Australian coastline and is fitted with "auxiliary vessels" - compact vessels used to ferry individuals on land visits.

Events such as this are rare, and liners have systems to document which passengers are boarding or getting off, according to maritime specialists.

"Leaving covertly or [back] aboard really isn't an possibility," one expert remarked.

Shipping companies take these procedures very seriously and have "clever tech in place to prevent such incidents from happening," the expert further stated.

"This is presumably a stunning - and tragic - isolated incident."