The family members of Robert L. Jones, who took a tour on Celebrity Cruises' giant cruise ship Celebrity Equinox last August 15, have sued the company for millions of dollars in damages.
The body of Robert L. Jones, who died on a cruise with his family, was improperly stored in a beverage cooler for six days by the ship's staff, according to court documents. Jones, who died of a cardiac event at the age of 78, decomposed so quickly in the cooler after his death that an open casket could not be displayed at a funeral or burial.
Marilyn Jones, the dead man's wife, stated in the lawsuit that the crew told her that there was a working morgue on board and that they would keep her husband there, but that the morgue was not working properly at the time Jones' body was removed. According to the lawsuit, Jones' body was never stored at an appropriate temperature to prevent decomposition.
The Jones family is demanding that the cruise line and its employees be tried by a jury for recklessly, negligently, wantonly and wantonly failing to properly care for the person who died on board the ship, and for $1 million in damages. celebrity cruises company officials declined to comment due to the sensitivity of the case and out of respect for the family, but it was also included in the lawsuit that 37 people have died on Celebrity Cruises cruises since 2001.
The Malta-flagged Celebrity Equinox, which operates tours departing from the Caribbean, has a capacity of approximately 3,000 passengers and 1,200 crew. According to a 2020 study published in the International Journal of Travel Medicine and Global Health, there were 623 reported fatalities on cruise ships between 2000 and 2019.
