Last Updated on: 23rd April 2023, 08:47 pm
Who Was Robert L Jones? Biography, Wiki
According to a family on board the ship, the body of a CRUISE passenger Robert L Jones was decomposing a week after his death.
Last August, the 78-year-old victim, Robert L. Jones, died aboard the Celebrity Equinox.
Family’s Grief Over Robert L Jones’s Death
The Florida family is suing the company, claiming that they placed Jones in a cooler after his death, causing severe decomposition.
The victim, who suffered heart complications on August 15, died of cardiac arrest and, according to Jones’ wife Marilyn, was to be held in the ship’s morgue for six days until it docked in Florida.
However, after seeing the condition of the body nearly a week later, the family believes it was not kept in the morgue and is now suing the cruise line.
Investigation Report
According to the lawsuit, Marilyn had two choices about what to do with her husband’s body after he died at the age of 78.
According to the lawsuit, the options included, “Mr. Jones’ body from the ship in San Juan, Puerto Rico, or “storing his body on the ship until it reaches the port of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, about six days after the accident.
The man’s body remained on board the cruise ship for “approximately six days,” according to the lawsuit.
Marilyn and the couple’s daughters, Robin Phillips and Teresa West said they were asked to keep the body on the ship rather than remove it during the Puerto Rico stopover.
The family’s cruise line reportedly told it had a fully stocked morgue on board the ship, ready to treat the passenger’s death.
However, after agreeing to this plan, the family faced a shocking turn of events.
“When the Fort. Lauderdale Funeral Services employee was brought to the ship to retrieve the body of Mr. Jones, his body was not in the ship’s morgue,” the lawsuit states.
“Instead, at an as yet unknown time, the body of Mr. Jones had been moved from the ship’s morgue to a refrigerator on a different floor from the ship’s morgue.”
“The cooler in which the undertaker found Mr. Jones’ body had beverages outside the cooler and was not at a sufficient or appropriate temperature to store a body to prevent decomposition,” the lawsuit says.
It also suggests the body was discovered “in a bag on a pallet on the bottom of the cooler.”
The body was said to have decomposed so badly that the family felt they could not conduct an open-air burial.
The family now believes the morgue on board the cruise ship was not working and that they were not informed of the decision to transport their loved one’s body.
According to the lawsuit, Celebrity Cruises has had fatalities on board in the past and should have had the means to properly store the body.
Marilyn, her daughters, and even her grandchildren are now seeking £800,000 in damages and a jury trial.
Celebrity Cruises has been contacted for comment.
