Injured cruise ship passenger dies after being dropped into ocean

Getting injured on a cruise ship can be a frightening experience. In many instances, a cruise ship is far from shore with few options of getting injured passengers to medical help. A cruise ship injury can occur as a result of an illness or simply falling down a set of stairs.

For cruise ship injury victims, it can often be difficult showing that the cruise ship company was negligent in some way. If there is an injury or death, local authorities will launch an investigation to determine what happened. In the case of the 73-year-old woman who was dropped into the ocean, that is exactly what is happening.

The story of this woman was told around the world. She had been on a cruise chartered by a United Kingdom cruise company. During the trip, she began to suffer from internal bleeding. The ship was off the coast of Norway so Norwegian rescuers were notified so that she could be brought to a hospital.

A rescue boat was sent to meet the cruise ship in order to transfer the woman back to land. It appears that when the rescue boat arrived, it remained unattached from the cruise ship. It was for that reason, witnesses believe, that the accident occurred.

While the woman was being moved on a stretcher from the cruise ship to the rescue boat, she was dropped into the waters below. The water was cold; the ship was in the Arctic Ocean. She remained in the water on the stretcher for several minutes before paramedics were able to pull her out. Though she was brought to land, she died last Thursday.

The details of what caused the initial internal bleeding and later her death are unknown at this point. However the incident is under investigation to determine how an injured cruise ship passenger ended up in the water.

Source: USA Today online, “Cruiser who was dropped into frigid Arctic waters dies,” Gene Sloan, 25 April 2011