This text initially appeared on Enterprise Insider.
An aged man’s corpse was left to rot for six days in a drinks cooler onboard a cruise ship after he died on board, in accordance with a civil lawsuit in opposition to Superstar Cruises.
In a criticism filed in Florida federal court docket on Wednesday, the household of the Robert Jones, who was 78, accuses the cruise line of improperly storing his physique after loss of life, leading to its decomposition.
The Miami New Instances was the primary publication to report on the lawsuit.
The lawsuit accuses Superstar of concealing the truth that it did not have a working morgue on board, and discouraging Jones’s spouse from taking her husband’s physique to be processed in Puerto Rico.
The physique was discovered by a funeral employee mendacity in a bag on the cooler flooring, the criticism stated.
The plaintiffs — his spouse, daughters, and grandchildren — are searching for $1 million in compensatory damages.
The lawsuit stated that Jones died of a coronary heart assault on board the Superstar Equinox in the summertime of 2022.
His spouse, Marilyn Jones, was given two choices for what to do together with her late husband’s physique, per the criticism.
She might have his physique faraway from the ship in San Juan, Puerto Rico, or go away it on board till the ship reached Fort Lauderdale, Florida, six days later.
In keeping with the lawsuit, the ship’s personnel gave Jones an inventory of causes to not take the Puerto Rico choice.
They stated that it will require her to remain in San Juan and prepare the transport of herself and the physique to the mainland US herself, per the criticism.
It additionally alleged that Jones was advised Puerto Rican authorities may insist on an post-mortem, delaying the return of the physique.
The opposite choice was to maintain the physique within the morgue, which is what Jones selected. Cruise ships are legally required to have morgues as a result of deaths onboard are so widespread. They’ll retailer our bodies for weeks with out decomposition.
Nonetheless, per the criticism, the morgue was out of motion, and Jones’s physique was as a substitute put in a drinks cooler that wasn’t chilly sufficient to refrigerate a physique.
The criticism stated {that a} funeral-home employee and a sheriff’s deputy from Broward County went to gather the corpse and located it improperly saved.
“The cooler wherein Mr. Jones’ physique was discovered by the funeral worker had drinks positioned exterior of the cooler and was not at a temperature which was ample nor correct for storing a useless physique to forestall decomposition,” the criticism stated.
The physique was not positioned on a mattress or a medical desk and was mendacity in a bag on a palette on the cooler’s flooring, the criticism stated.
The lawsuit claims that the poor storage meant the physique couldn’t be made presentable for an open-casket wake and funeral, depriving the household of the funeral they wished.
The lawsuit accuses Superstar Cruises of performing “recklessly, willfully, and wantonly, and with out take care of the Jones household’s liked one” by failing to make sure that the morgue was working and the stays had been saved fastidiously.
Superstar Cruises didn’t instantly reply to Insider’s request for remark.