Table Of Content
- More from WCBD News 2
- More from CBS News
- Best March Ever at Port Houston with Strong Quarterly Container Volumes
- Union Pier contract draws private groans from developers, praise from ports agency
- Cruise passenger died a "natural death," Carnival says
- FBI investigating 'suspicious' death of Carnival Sunshine cruise ship passenger
The cruise left Charleston on Feb. 27, said Matt Lupoli, Carnival Cruise Line's senior manager of public relations. She most likely died early Feb. 28, said Kevin Wheeler, a public affairs specialist for the FBI's Columbia field office. The woman died on the line's Carnival Sunshine ship during a cruise to the Bahamas that departed from Charleston, South Carolina, on Feb. 27. The Carnival Sunshine was launched in 1996 and was once the world's largest passenger vessel. Wheeler said the woman was on the ship during its Feb. 27 voyage to Nassau, Bahamas. "The decision to suspend the active search efforts pending further development is never one we take lightly. We offer our most sincere condolences to Mr. Peale's family and friends," the US Coast Guard said in a statement.
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FBI officials previously said the death posed "no threat to any other passengers" and that the incident was isolated. The FBI is investigating the "suspicious death" of a woman who was on a five -day cruise from South Carolina to the Bahamas, the agency announced. The "suspicious death" was isolated, according to the FBI, and there was no threat to any other passengers before or after the passenger was found deceased. Two search warrants were filed on Wednesday, one to search the cabin where a woman was found unresponsive on the Carnival Cruise Sunshine and the other to search of a Volkswagen Jetta with North Carolina plates, also on the basis of evidence of a crime. The local police in Charleston, South Carolina has absolutely no jurisdiction to either investigate or prosecute crime on cruise ships.
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A spokesperson for Carnival Cruise Line told News 2 the FBI joined Carnival Sunshine when it returned to port in Charleston on Saturday to conduct its investigation. In 2022, the State Ports Authority announced it would not extend its contract with Carnival after the current pact expires at the end of 2024. The SPA's decision came after years of unsuccessful attempts to build a new cruise ship terminal at Union Pier in the face of opposition from environmentalists and historic preservation groups. The Sunshine is the third Carnival ship to call Charleston its home port since the cruise line started offering year-round voyages from the Union Pier Terminal in downtown Charleston in 2010. But a report published in November 2020 in the International Journal of Travel Medicine and Global Health put the number of deaths at 623 deaths between 2000 and 2019. "We are fully cooperating," Matt Lupolis, senior manager of public relations for Carnival Cruise Line said March 6.
Best March Ever at Port Houston with Strong Quarterly Container Volumes
9-Month Cruise Confirms Its First Death: "Very, Very Sad" - Best Life
9-Month Cruise Confirms Its First Death: "Very, Very Sad".
Posted: Wed, 14 Feb 2024 08:00:00 GMT [source]
A female passenger was found dead under suspicious circumstances on a Carnival cruise ship during a voyage to the Bahamas — and the FBI has launched a criminal investigation. An FBI Evidence Response Team processed the passenger's room after the ship returned to the Charleston port on March 4. The FBI said it investigates "certain crimes on the high seas, as well as suspicious deaths of U.S. persons."
Union Pier contract draws private groans from developers, praise from ports agency
"This is a matter for authorities in the Bahamas and Charleston and we have no further comments." It said in a statement to Newsweek that crew members on the Carnival Sunshine were alerted to the unresponsive woman during its February 27 voyage, but despite attempting to resuscitate her, she was pronounced dead at the scene. "The FBI typically has jurisdiction to investigate incidents on the high seas and works closely with our partners in law enforcement and in the cruising industry to collect the evidence and facts of cases," the spokesperson told the media outlet.
"This incident was isolated and there was no threat to any other passengers before or after the passenger was found deceased," Kevin Wheeler, spokesperson for the Columbia field office, said. The total number of passengers who have died globally on cruise ships is difficult to determine because ships are owned by different countries that have different reporting practices. According to an FBI news release, medical staff and other crew members immediately attempted life-saving measures after learning the female passenger was unresponsive. The FBI is investigating the death of a passenger who was touring on the Carnival cruise ship Sunshine, conducting a search of her room when the vessel returned to the port of Charleston on March 4. The FBI is investigating the "suspicious" death of a woman aboard a Carnival cruise ship traveling from Charleston, South Carolina, to Nassau, Bahamas, last month.
Let the Sunshine in — cruising makes its return at the Port of Charleston
Investigators with the FBI Columbia field office said a female passenger died during Carnival Sunshine’s Feb. 27 voyage to Nassau, Bahamas. “Medical staff and other crew members of Carnival’s Sunshine were made aware of the passenger being unresponsive and immediately attempted life-saving measures,” a spokesperson for the FBI’s Columbia field office told USA Today. "Medical staff and other crew members of Carnival’s Sunshine were made aware of the passenger being unresponsive and immediately attempted life-saving measures," the FBI said. When the ship returned to Charleston on March 4, FBI officials searched the dead passenger's room for evidence, according to the news release. FBI officials said the incident was isolated and there was "no threat to any other passengers before or after the passenger was found deceased."
"The FBI investigates certain crimes on the high seas, as well as suspicious deaths of U.S. persons," Wheeler said. "As such, FBI Evidence Response Team (ERT) members responded to process the passenger’s room once the ship returned to the Charleston port on March 4." The FBI investigates certain crimes on the high seas, as well as suspicious deaths of Americans. As such, FBI Evidence Response Team members responded to process the passenger’s room once the ship returned to the Charleston port. On Feb. 27, Carnival's Sunshine crew members and medical staff responded to an unresponsive female passenger, the FBI Columbia field office said in a news release. Despite their best efforts, the woman was pronounced dead on the ship, the release said.
The SPA has instead decided to sell the 64-acre Union Pier site to private developers, and the maritime agency recently submitted a zoning plan for the site with the city of Charleston. Bahamian authorities are investigating the circumstances and conducted an autopsy. Sign up for PEOPLE's free True Crime newsletter for breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases. The Sunshine, which carries up to 3,002 passengers and 1,040 crew members, returned to Charleston, South Carolina, on Saturday, the cruise line said.
The incident was isolated and posed no threats to other passengers, according to the FBI. The FBI said the death remains under investigation and no other details could be provided at this time. The passenger's "suspicious death" occurred during a voyage to Nassau on Feb. 27. In a statement on Tuesday, the cruise line said "all indications" suggest the woman died of a medical condition while on board Carnival Sunshine in The Bahamas, according to NBC and CBS News.
The FBI said it believed it was an isolated incident with no other reports of threats to passengers during the cruise. However, the bureau routinely investigates certain crimes on the high seas, as well as suspicious deaths of U.S. persons. The team responded to process the passenger’s room once the ship returned to Charleston on March 4 and to review the circumstances of the death. "While we continue to cooperate with authorities, all indications pertaining to the death of a guest on board Carnival Sunshine suggest that it was a natural death due to a medical condition," Carnival said in the statement released on Tuesday. And I am not aware of a single crime on a cruise ship successfully investigated and prosecuted by the Bahamas.
