Widow sues US cruise line after husband’s body was kept in drink cooler.usa news

The cruise line kept the bodies of passengers who died on board in a drink cooler for several days, claiming the man’s remains turned green and decomposed. A federal lawsuit was filed in Florida last week.

Robert Jones, a man, died of a heart attack on August 15 last year while aboard the Celebrity Equinox during a Caribbean cruise. He is said to have said that he could either take it to shore or keep it in the morgue on board until it was returned. floridaStaff told her there was only a 50% chance that the body would undergo an autopsy in San Juan and that she would have to remain there alone until an autopsy and embalming could take place, Jones said in her complaint. . She decided to keep the corpse on board.

However, according to the lawsuit, when the ship returned to Fort Lauderdale on August 21, a deputy sheriff’s office officer and a funeral home employee found Robert Jones’ body in a bag on a pallet on the floor of the drink cooler. The room was not cold enough to prevent the corpse from rotting, and funeral staff reportedly were unable to retrieve the body long enough for a public coffin funeral. The ship’s required morgue was not functioning at the time, the lawsuit says.

Marilyn Jones, her daughter and three grandchildren are suing celebrities cruise $1 million in damages.

Celebrity Cruises declined to comment on the matter, citing “confidentiality of the alleged facts and respect for the family.”

“The actions and inactions of Celebrity and his crew have viciously interfered with the body of Robert Jones and the last memories of plaintiff Jones, visualizing Mr. and knowing that his father was callous and ruthless, casually left in a beverage cooler and stripped of his dignity in a sacred hour shortly after his death,” Suits says. .