The Good, The Bad & The Plain Ugly!
2010, the year that was....
By Mike Groves
It has been a pretty awful year for the cruise industry through the past twelve months and something many within the industry would be eager to see the back off. With unexplained incidents concerning missing passengers & crew, unexplained hangings, murder, child rapes, collisions and then one cruise operator almost beaching one of their ships, 2010 has shown how some within the industry are a complete shambles - when it comes to providing adequate levels of safety for their passengers and crew.
2010 has also placed some particular operators under the Cruise Bruise spot light, and we are not alone when it comes to showing some for what they really are! With incidences of Norovirus, bed bugs and other issues involving passengers, some who saved for years to take their ‘dream cruise’ only to be subjected to horrendous conditions on board and then equally horrendous treatment at the hands of the cruise lines, when they had the ‘audacity’ to register a genuine complaint? Yes 2010 was yet another year where ‘some’ cruise operators were more than happy to take your money and equally as happy to not give a damn when they failed to deliver on their promises, and below is just small sample of those incidents -
Between 7th January and 23rd November 2010, a staggering seventeen people lost their lives on cruise ships, ten died on board Carnival ships, two on Princess ships, two with MSC and the remainder were on board RCCL, Star and NCL cruise ships. One case in particular involved a young crewmember found hanging in her cabin and which was, to say the least, very suspicious and in all probability murder! That is the case of Camila Peixoto Bandeira.
Camila was only 28 years of age and worked as a bartender on board the MSC Musica where she shared a cabin with her boyfriend, Souza Bicalho, a 30 year old a crewmember and who in my ‘opinion’ mind has some questions to answer?
Camila was last seen alive at around 2300 hours on 9th January 2010, she was found dead inside her cabin the following morning. Bicalho would later tell investigators that he left the cabin to begin work around 0700 hours, but returned three hours later (no reason appears to have been given why) and found Camila hanging by a bed sheet and she was dead. Bicalho called it a suicide.
Questions –
Why did Bicalho return to the cabin so soon during his shift?
Why was Bicalho going to work at 0700 hrs anyway and if anything, at 1000 hrs it would have been at the peak of service for breakfast, so how could he / why would he possibly asked to be released from his duty in the restaurant?
Camila normally opened the bar at 0700 hours but on that eventful day her schedule had been changed to an afternoon shift?
Has the exact time of Camila death been fully established by the coroner and if soon, what is her timeline against Bicalho own timeline.
I ask these questions because it is evident from Jan’s initial report that Camila had previously told her brother, Jose Godolphim who also worked on board Godolphim that she planned to break her contract with the cruise line and disembark at Port of Santos. Godolphim stated that Camila had given two reasons for this, first she was eager to start working in the family’s new restaurant that they were due to open but another, and now quite significant reason was that Bicalho was seriously assaulting her!
According to Godolphim, Camila had seen the ship's doctor to receive treatment for various injuries to the head and stomach. Camila had also asked to move cabins but was ignored by ships officers.
The subsequent investigation into this young ladies death appears to lacking quite frankly, and calls into question a number of things – The door entry system showed that nobody entered or left Camila’s cabin between 0700 hours and 1000 hours on 10th January.
Bicalho contradicted himself on a number of occasions and eventually admitted tampering with the crime scene.
Crewmembers were heard to say that no bed sheet was found.
What time did Bicalho report the body, did he scream out, did he bang on cabin doors begging for help? There appears to be nothing recorded about what happened next?
Personal items belonging to Camila were found to be missing, most crucial to a crime scene investigation was her mobile phone and laptop. Where did they go and why did they go?
So this is a case of great intrigue to me and one that I intend to explore further once able to locate further details of the investigation, and/or speak with Camila’s family. Sadly this is not the first suspicious death on board cruise ships for 2010, but you can read more of these here
The Good, The Bad & The Plain Ugly!
2010, the year that was....
By Mike Groves QGM
Cruise Bruise Security And Safety Advisor
December 31, 2010
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Other ‘reported’ incidences of rape and sexual assault have also taken place during the year but not all have been made public. In January of this year I was made aware of two rapes involving children on board cruise ships, one a 14yr female and the other a 13yr boy! Both, as I understand, were EU nationals. In recent months I have also been in contact with another 14yr rape victim’s mother in America. Taylor’s courage is as much an inspiration to me as she is to her family – such a remarkable young woman who has held her head high and maintained her dignity while she battles the inner demons during her journey towards a new chapter in her life. I hope one day to be able to offer more support to this family when the time is right for them.
Reported incidences of rape and sexual assault can be found here
It may also shock you to learn that predatory pedophiles are boarding cruise ships as both passengers and as crew. Yes - known pedophiles are being recruited by cruise ships to work in and around the company of children because many cruise operators will not pay for the necessary criminal background checks that should be undertaken, something that is done by the vast majority of companies whenever children are present. Just last week I wrote another letter to Prime Minister David Cameron highlight this issue, and also some cases involving new child victims. In it I have asked for his direct support, both as the elected leader of our country and also as a father himself, but I have also gone one step further – requesting a face to face meeting with myself and other board members of International Cruise Victims.
I hope we will secure a meeting with Mr Cameron in order that we may discuss a positive way forward and to also force cruise operators to undertake these very basic of checks when employing any staff.
The wall of shame for those involved in child rape or pedophilia can be viewed via the following links. I must warn readers that some may find these stories extremely upsetting, as they are abhorrent –
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