An Australian passenger on board the Carnival Spirit cruise liner has sent a desperate email to the Government asking for help for the confused passengers who are increasingly feeling trapped.
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The cruise was disrupted when the vessel turned around in an attempt to locate a missing crew member.
The passenger, who did not wish to be identified, included Fairfax staff in her email to the Department of Foreign Affairs. She says the passengers are increasingly feeling trapped.
''Everyone I have spoken to is frightened, concerned, anxious about where we're going and very confused,'' she said. ''We are out here, in the Pacific Ocean. It is unfair. We dont want to be here.''
The cruise ship began searching for the man on Tuesday afternoon at about 2pm.
On Wednesday morning it was released by the New Caledonia Search and Rescue Authority, which declared the chances of finding the man were ''literally nil'', allowing the ship to continue to the next stop of the cruise.
The woman said many passengers are concerned about the lacklustre effort to locate the body of the missing crew member, who she describes as an Indian man who was working in the kitchen. She added he either never reboarded the ship in Vanuatu or has gone overboard.
''Regardless, our cruise liner is the only search and rescue operation looking for him. There are no planes, no helicopters, no nothing – just our cruise boat going at five kilometres an hour,'' she said in her email this morning.
''If anyone cared about this man, a genuine search and rescue would have been sent out – not a cruise liner!''
The New Caledonia Search and Rescue Authority said it had dispatched a navy plane to search the area at first light. The plane spent four hours patrolling the search area, which is at least 200 nautical miles long.
The passenger urged the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to intervene to stop the 2500 passengers, including many Australians, from sailing around the ocean looking for a body.
A spokesman for Carnival Cruises said the ship was travelling quickly towards Fiji and should arrive on Thursday morning as scheduled.
''There have been regular messages going out to passengers. There is no reason for concern. It is as we've discussed, the Carnival Spirit was released from the search pattern this morning and she's now en route to Fiji,'' he said.
The missing man failed to report for his shift on Tuesday morning. The cruise company has declined to comment on if it was possible he had failed to reboard the ship in Vanuatu rather than going overboard..
A passenger on the ship, who did not wish to be identified, said an announcement was made at about 9.30am Tuesday that a crew member had gone missing. The vessel did not turn around until about 2pm.
A spokesperson for the Australian Maritime Safety Authority said it had been advised of the incident but the location was outside Australia’s search and rescue region.
