62 Year Old Woman Vanishes Aboard the QE2 … Overboard?
Its happened again, this time aboard Cunnard’s QU2. A 62 year old woman has been reported missing and presumed to have gone overboard.
It was believed the 62-year-old went overboard on Hogmanay during the £2000-a-head cruise.
Officers boarded the luxury liner, which carries 1900 passengers and more than 1000 crew, when it returned to its home port of Southampton yesterday.
The alarm had been raised on Sunday when the woman was reported missing by her husband as the ship returned from the island of Madeira in the Atlantic. The captain of the QE2 did turn the ship around to retrace the route as well as a sea & air rescue was conducted. All to no avail.
A search was immediately launched by the crew, but no sign of the woman was found. (The Daily Record)
Mystery surrounds QE2′s missing woman
The woman, a German national, was reported missing from the 67,000-tonne Cunard liner by her husband on Sunday.
The ship was in Portuguese waters between Madeira and its home port of Southampton at the time.
New Year mystery aboard the QE2
Hampshire Police spokeswoman Lucy Dibdin said: “Our officers are working closely with staff to ascertain what has happened, and are speaking to ship’s crew, passengers and the missing woman’s husband.”
Detective Inspector Dean Gower said: “It is too early at this stage to speculate as to exactly what has happened but we do not believe there are suspicious circumstances at this time.”
Can you imagine Agatha Christie writing another best seller: Murder on the QE2:-
The ship had left Madeira three hours and twenty minutes earlier. The Tannoy at its loudest setting boomed a message from the Captain, “We are sorry to inform you, that a German passenger has gone missing…” and so on. He requested everyone to return to their cabins and a general search would begin. The lady could not be found. She had completely disappeared in very mysterious circumstances.
And so on. The speculation on the QE2, at that time, was nerve wracking, especially for every lady on board, who firmly believed she would be the next one to go. It must be admitted that it would be very difficult to jump overboard on such a ship. There was an impregnable hand rail. How indeed did it happen? No one will ever discover…it is one of those mysteries, like the Marie Celeste, but if the QE2 is to be confined to the knackers yard or to somewhere in America as a sister hotel to the Queen Mary, what an exciting, though tragic end to this still superb ship.
Comment by A.Godfrey | January 16, 2007