Family sues cruise line after loved one’s remains found decomposed in ship’s drink cooler
(Image credit: Facebook)
For many who have never had the opportunity to go one of the varied types of ocean cruise there are out there, this next story might have them thinking twice about booking their tickets.
On Wednesday, a $1 million lawsuit was filed against Celebrity Cruises by a family from Florida. On August 15, 2022, Robert L. Jones had a cardiac attack and died aboard the Celebrity Equinox cruise ship while on a cruise from Fort Lauderdale to various stops in the Caribbean, according to an April 23 report from CBS News. There was a morgue on the ship, but six days after Jones died, a funeral home representative from Florida went to that morgue to retrieve the body – but it wasn’t there.
“Instead, Mr. Jones’ body had, at some time not yet known, had been moved from the ship’s morgue to a cooler on a different floor than the ship’s morgue. The cooler in which Mr. Jones’ body was found by the funeral employee had drinks placed outside of the cooler, and was not at a temperature which was sufficient nor proper for storing a dead body to prevent decomposition,” according to the lawsuit.
(Robert L. Jones, Image credit: Sims Funeral Home)
At the time of Jones’ death, his wife, 78-year-old Marilyn Jones, was given two options by the ship’s crew: the body could be dropped off at the next port of call, Puerto Rico, or stored in the ship’s morgue for the next six days until the ship returned to Fort Lauderdale. Mrs. Jones opted for the morgue, but that’s not where the body was stored, according to ABC News.
Mr. Jones’ remains were moved from the ship’s morgue and eventually discovered on a pallet in a walk-in drink cooler. The lawsuit claims that the cooler was significantly warmer than the near-freezing temperatures needed to properly store the body, and Robert Jones’ remains were found to be in “advanced stages of decomposition,.” The unsuitable temperature in that cooler “left the body bloated and green, and the family was unable to have an open-coffin funeral – which was a long standing family custom and was what his family had desired,” the lawsuit says.
It was later discovered that the ship’s morgue was not functioning properly and was out of service at the time of Jones’ death, which is why the body was moved to that drink cooler. In addition to $1 million in damages, Mrs. Jones, her daughters, and grandchildren are also demanding a trial by jury, according to The New York Post.
“The reckless and careless actions and omissions of Celebrity directly and proximately caused Plaintiffs’ injuries, because if Plaintiff’s knew that there was not a working morgue on the ship, they would have had Mr. Jones’ body taken off the ship,” the lawsuit claims.
“If the defendant’s crew had either kept the morgue in proper working order, or inspected Mr. Jones’ body in the morgue with reasonable frequency, his body would not have decomposed to the point that a funeral director was unable to salvage his remains such that he could receive the open casket funeral and wake services.” ~ New York Post
The Celebrity Equinox can accommodate nearly 3,000 passengers and hosts 1,200 crew members.
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(Cover photo, Celebrity Equinox Cruise Ship, Image credit: Cruise Mapper)
Posted by Richard Webster, Ace News Today / Follow Richard on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram
