New Year mystery aboard the QE2

DAILY EXPRESS by Geoff Maynard - Janury 3, 2007

Detectives boarded the luxury liner Queen Elizabeth 2 yesterday to interview crew and passengers after a woman vanished overboard during the ship’s prestigious New Year cruise.

It is believed the 62-year-old passenger disappeared on New Year’s Eve during the £2,000-a-head voyage.

Officers went on to the QE2, which carries 1,900 passengers and more than 1,000 crew, after it returned to its home port of Southampton at 8.20am

yesterday.

The alarm was raised on Sunday when a German woman was reported missing by her husband as the vessel sailed from Madeira towards Southampton.

An emergency search was immediately launched by the crew but no trace was found. The ship turned and retraced its route to the area in which the woman was last seen.

An air and sea search was also carried out without success. It is understood that seas were relatively calm at the time that she went missing.

Eric Flounders, a spokesman for the ship’s owners Cunard, said: “Cunard regrets that a female passenger on the QE2 was reported missing on December 31 on route from Funchal, the capital of Madeira, to Southampton.

“A thorough search was conducted on the ship but the guest was not located. The ship then turned and retraced its route to the location at the time the guest was last seen.

“The Lisbon and Falmouth rescue services were informed as well as the Marine Coastguard Agency and an aerial search was started by the Lisbon service but nothing was found. After darkness fell the ship then resumed its journey.

A further search was carried out on January 1. The German guest was travelling with her family and friends.”

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.”

The QE2 set sail on the 16-night Atlantic cruise on December 17. During the voyage it called at the Portuguese capital Lisbon and at Malaga in Spain and Gibraltar.

Then it sailed to the islands of Lanzarote and Gran Canaria. It continued south to Dakar, the capital of Senegal on Africa’s west coast, before heading north to Tenerife, Agadir and the Portuguese island of Madeira.

I wonder if that is why she sailed about 2 hours late night ? going by the webcam this morning the members of the WCC should be quite happy with the sea conditions!!!!

How l wish l was there:D

cheers

Myles

I wonder if that is why she sailed about 2 hours late night ? going by the webcam this morning the members of the WCC should be quite happy with the sea conditions!!!!

I don't think so - we caught up the time we lost quite quickly. We were past the Scillies by midnight although we didn't finally dock until turned 8-00. Whatever happened to cause us to be late happened in the early hours of the morning.

It was good fun being slightly rough:) We're still swaying now as we wait for our sea legs to go!

it is reported that the missing Lady 62 years old Mrs. Sabine L. is from Hamburg. It remains a miracle as she is excellent in surfing, swimming and riding.

Picture is showing her with 74 years old husband Ludwig and son Moritz on a recent trip to Bergen in Norway.

Here is a link for those who can read German

http://www.abendblatt.de/daten/2007/01/05/663484.html

it is reported that the missing Lady 62 years old Mrs. Sabine L. is from Hamburg. It remains a miracle as she is excellent in surfing, swimming and riding.

Picture is showing her with 74 years old husband Ludwig and son Moritz on a recent trip to Bergen in Norway.

Here is a link for those who can read German

http://www.abendblatt.de/daten/2007/01/05/663484.html

Here is a link for those who can read German

If you can't read German run it through a translation program like http://babelfish.altavista.com/. It works passable well although I'm confused by what "larva Irish Republican Army" means!