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An extensive two-month voyage around Australia has been cancelled days after the fatal incident of an elderly woman who was left behind by the cruise liner on a remote island.

The elderly woman had been hiking on the tropical location with shipmates from the cruise ship, but parted ways from the party for a rest. The liner sailed away leaving her and went back several hours later after the crew became aware the woman was unaccounted for.

An extensive hunt located her person the next day.

Authorities are investigating the tragedy, in coordination with investigators and the state coroner.

The CEO of the voyage organizer announced that travelers and staff on the vessel were told that the rest of the journey had been terminated due to the "unfortunate death and previous technical problems".

In a statement, he added that guests would be issued a complete reimbursement, and said the operator was working "to coordinate the travel back of the travelers via chartered flights".

Authorities also issued an updated announcement, and said they had "delivered a directive to the Master" prohibiting any new passengers from boarding the liner.

The official said that they would attend the liner in Cairns upon its arrival.

Sequence of Occurrences

The vessel originally sailed from the Australian port on October 24th, and was merely two days into the journey at the moment of the senior passenger's passing. The tropical location was the opening port on the voyage.

Passengers on board - who typically pay substantial amounts of dollars to participate in the voyage - were taken there for a daily excursion with the possibility of trekking or snorkeling.

Family Statement

The daughter of the deceased woman said that her family was "stunned and distressed that the vessel left the island after an scheduled excursion without my parent".

In her statement, she characterized her parent as an "energetic octogenarian" who was a participant of a hiking group.

"Based on limited details we have been provided, it appears that there was a breakdown of responsibility and basic judgment," she said.

She further stated that she hoped the inquiry would be able to determine what "the operator should have undertaken that might have preserved Her existence".

"We understand from the police that it was a extremely warm afternoon, and mum fell ill on the hill climb," she revealed.

"Officials suggested her to head down, alone. Then the vessel departed, seemingly without doing a passenger count.

"During some point in that chain of events, or soon after, she succumbed, alone."

Company Response

Via official communication, the Head verified that the operator was "cooperating fully with officials to aid their investigation".

He stated that the firm was "extremely apologetic that this has happened" and had offered its full support to the family.

Shipping Sector Practices

The ship serves up to 120 guests with 46 crew, according to official information. It was specially constructed to reach remote locations of the nation's coastline and is equipped with "small boats" - small boats used to ferry passengers on shore trips.

Occurrences of this nature are infrequent, and cruise ships have systems to document which passengers are embarking or leaving, according to industry experts.

"Going ashore secretly or [back] onboard simply isn't an possibility," one expert remarked.

Shipping companies regard these processes extremely carefully and have "clever tech in place to stop such events from taking place," the specialist continued.

"This is most likely a surprising - and unfortunate - one-off."