Pictured: Cruise ship passenger, 80, who died on remote desert island after being left behind
Pensioner Suzanne Rees died after going for a hike while visiting Lizard Island on the first stop of her dream Australian cruise
The family of an 80-year-old tourist who died on a remote island after a cruise left her behind have told of their devastation.
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An investigation has been launched after Suzanne Rees died on the remote island in Far North Queensland on the first stop of a 60-day £40,000-a-ticket circumnavigation of Australia.
Following her death on Saturday, her family have said they were left 'shocked and saddened' that their grandmother had allegedly been abandoned due to a 'failure of care and common sense'.
They described tragic Mrs Rees as a keen bushwalker and gardener.
She failed to re-embark the NRMA-owned Coral Adventurer ship, which was taking in the Far North Queensland coast before circumnavigating Australia.
A search operation was launched after it was discovered she failed to re-embark the liner by midnight on Saturday.
Suzanne's disappearance initially led the crew to fear she had fallen overboard.
A multi-agency investigation has been launched to investigate how and why Ms Rees was allegedly left behind by the NRMA-owned ship.
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Katherine Rees told The Australian newspaper that Suzanne fell ill during a hill climb and was asked to travel back down the mountain unescorted.
"Then the ship left, apparently without doing a passenger count. At some stage in that sequence, or shortly after, Mum died, alone," she told the newspaper.
She said the Rees family was "shocked and saddened" at the alleged abandonment which she called "failure of care and common sense".
The retiree was reported missing, with a search operation involving land, air and sea vessels locating and recovering her body from the island's highest peak, Cook's Look, the following day.
Ship location app Vessel Finder showed the Coral Adventurer sailed back towards Lizard Island at around 9pm on Saturday, reaching the location at around 2am on Sunday.
It was later found that the woman was part of a group walking to the summit of Cook's Look.
It's thought the woman become lost on her way back to the ship, after becoming separated from the group.
“The group continued on and boarded the vessel before realising she was not there”, a source told The Australian.
According to yachtie Traci Ayrisone, who was listening to the emergency radio as events unfolded: "They did headcounts for snorkellers (which we heard) but not for other guests on the island it would seem.
"The last people came down from the track and got into tender then the (ship) left very soon after that," Ms Ayris told the Cairns Post.
She went on to note that it raised "questions about safety protocols and a delayed start to the search due to it not being known that the woman was missing".
The death came just a day after the Coral Adventurer began the cruise, which set off from the Australian city of Cairns on Friday afternoon.
According to the itinerary, the ship, which was anchored off Lizard Island, offered passengers the option of taking a smaller boat to hike and snorkel on the island.
Authorities say the death is not being treated as suspicious.
In a statement, Coral Expeditions head Mark Fifield confirmed the passenger's “tragic death”.
He explained the company is working alongside authorities - including police and the coroner - to help with the “continuing” investigations.