Editorials & Other Articles
In reply to the discussion: (1) How Unsolved Missing Person Cases Are Solved (Pt. 1) [View all]AmyStrange
(7,989 posts)-
Vanished at Sea: Baffling Cruise Ship Missing Persons Cases
By ALICE GOMSTYN and ABC NEWS STAFF
January 17, 2012, 1:09 PM
Families don't know what happened to loved ones who went missing years ago.
Jan. 20, 2012 intro: Eleven people are dead and 21 remain missing a week after the cruise ship Costa Concordia collided with rocks and capsized Friday evening near the Italian island of Giglio. Families of those missing, including Minnesota couple Jerry and Barbara Heil, continue to hope that their loved ones will be found.
But it's not just maritime tragedies on the scale of the Costa Concordia that result in vacationers missing at sea. Long before last week's accident, dozens of men and women mysteriously vanished aboard cruise liners, confounding investigators and leaving their families heartbroken. A number of families have blamed cruise lines for failing to report disappearances in a timely fashion and not doing enough to ensure the safety of passengers. The cruise industry has maintained that accidents and crime aboard cruise ships are rare.
In the last two years, 41 people went overboard or went missing on cruise ships, according to CruiseJunkie.com, a cruise watchdog site. The cruise industry reported that nearly 15 million passengers traveled on cruise ships in 2010 alone.
"Cruising continues to be one of safest means of travel among all types of vacationing," the Cruise Lines International Association said in a statement released after the Costa Concordia tragedy.
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https://abcnews.go.com/US/vanished-sea-baffling-cruise-ship-missing-persons-cases/story?id=15380865
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