A 79-year-old man from Florida's family is suing a cruise liner after claiming they put the man's body in a drinks cooler after his death on board which resulted in severe decomposition.
Robert L. Jones was travelling aboard the Celebrity Equinox ship in August 2022 with his wife Marilyn, and daughters Robin Phillips and Teresa West when he passed away from heart complications.
The cruise line gave the family two options. They could either take the body off the ship at the next stop in Puerto Rico or they could place the body in the ship's morgue and wait for the trip to be completed in six days' time when they would arrive back in Florida.
According to the lawsuit, Marilyn alleged she was "encouraged" to store her husband's remains on the cruise until they returned to Fort Lauderdale.
If Mrs Jones didn't choose this option she would have had to have the body flown back to the US from Puerto Rico.
Instead, the body was moved from the morgue to a drinks cooler on a different ship floor, according to the complainant.
As reported by The Mirror the lawsuit said: "The cooler in which the funeral home employees found Mr Jones’ body had drinks placed outside of [it], and was not at a temperature which was sufficient nor proper for storing a dead body to prevent decomposition."
It added: "The company's actions and inactions with regard to Mr Jones’s body were extremely indifferent to his passing, his dignity, and his family, friends, and community’s loss, and showed an entire want of care for the safety of his remains.
"As a passenger on its ship, the defendant owed Robert Jones a duty to exercise reasonable care under the circumstances."
The family claims that if Mr Jones' body had been put in the morgue it wouldn't have decomposed for months. Because of this, they were unable to have an open casket for him.
Mrs Jones, her daughters, and her grandchildren are suing the company for $1 million for the handling of Mr Jones' death.
Keep up to date with all the latest news on our website Beat102103.com.
