The Editor Speaks: Missing cruise ship member found but why the delay?
On Wednesday 28th March we received a Police Report that a crew member on the MSC Opera which arrived in Cayman on Thursday 22nd March and departed the same day was left behind.
The police requested Cayman’s media to ask the public to find the missing member – a Cuban National, 34 year old Yusmaidys Ortiz Perez. We were sent two images of her and like the other local media houses we published the Police Report.
On Tuesday 3rd April Ms. Perez was found in West Bay.
All the other details are not disclosed except the police are conducting an investigation. She is now being held by Immigration.
What puzzles me about all of this is why did it take MSC Cruises FOUR days to report to the Cayman Authorities that Perez was missing?
Maritime Lawyer, Jim Walker, also asks the same question and calls it ‘troubling’.
He says on his website:
“It’s a good development that the woman has been located, although it is troubling that the cruise ship personnel delayed four days before reporting that she did not return to the ship before it left the country.”
See: http://www.cruiselawnews.com/2018/04/articles/disappearances-1/msc-crew-member-located-in-grand-cayman-why-did-msc-report-her-missing-four-days-late/
What is even more troubling is that according to a report from The Sun newspaper published on June 23 2017 approximately 200 people have disappeared on cruise ships since the year 2000.
The Sun claims that this has sparked “fears that a killer could be targeting liners”.
The Sun reports the startling figure revealed by an industry expert comes as the British family of one missing crew member continue in their hunt for answers.
Rebecca Coriam, 24, vanished six years ago during a stint as a nanny on board a Disney cruise ship.
Mum and dad Mike and Ann Corium, from Chester, fear their “beautiful” daughter may have been murdered rather than falling overboard during a storm, as an original investigation found.
And there are claims that bosses at the entertainment giant may have tried to cover up her case out of fear of bad publicity.
Their search for the truth was given a further spur when two friends of their daughter revealed she may have been sexually assaulted before she went missing on 24 March 2011.
They have received Government assurance that these shock claims will be probed — but they cannot comment after reportedly being given an out-of-court settlement with Disney.
There may be the answer why MSC Cruises delayed their report to Cayman’s authorities that one of their crew members was missing.
Bad publicity!
