Disappearance of Connecticut man spurs probe of cruise ship safety

news.yahoo.com ^ | 12/13/2005 | ASSociated Press

[xrp]

WASHINGTON (AP) — The mysterious disappearance of a Connecticut man during a honeymoon cruise is drawing congressional attention to a seamy side of the glitzy cruise industry.

[xrp]

In other news, Congress "runs out of time" on Alternative Minimum Tax

Priorities...priorities...

[irishjuggler]

I saw a piece on Dateline about this case a few months ago. There are a lot of unanswered questions. Where was the bride when hubby was supposedly getting tossed off a balcony?

[Chode]

some dumbass fell overboard from a RoyalCarib liner off the coast of PR in 2000... they found him alive about twelve hours later. he prolly used up his luck quotient for the rest of his life though.

[CindyDawg]

Kicking her off the boat was strange.

[Howlin]

What??

[NormsRevenge]

Greta is all over the cruise lines and missing passengers on her show right now..

Someone tell Congress to get back to work on issues that affect all of us and not just a few..

[jdm]

I've been following this story. Gotta be foul play involved, IMHO.

[mrmargaritaville]

Yeah like steroids in basball or the college football BCS.

[CindyDawg]

Can I copy from Yahoo? I was reading where she said she was forced off the ship after her husband disappeared. That just sounded strange to me. I would have thought she would have been the # 1 VIP

[Howlin]

If it's an AP article you can copy from Yahoo.

And she's talking? I hadn't heard the first word from her.

[jdm]

His (presumably) widowed wife has aged 15 years in the past 5 months. I believe she's involved in his disappearance and is being overlooked by investigators.

[jdm]

Gregory M. Purdy, director of safety, security and environment for Royal Caribbean, apologized to the Smith family but said his company handled the incident correctly and responsibly.

"The Smith family has suffered an unimaginable loss and we extend our deepest sympathies to the family," Purdy said. "We do not know what happened to George Smith ... but we continue to cooperate fully with the FBI in the hope that the agency will be able to provide solid answers and some measure of closure for the Smith family."

He said Smith's wife was not forced to leave the cruise ship.

The FBI is investigating, but no one has been charged and no body has been recovered.

Source: The link above.

[Roverman2K]

ha ha, they should put Gretta on the congress, she would hound them until they found their guts..
Man I am sick of Her on TV looking for poor souls that are lost.

[GLDNGUN]

Was this guy drunk?

[CindyDawg]

Same link

Smith's wife, Jennifer Hagel Smith, says ship officials forced her from the vessel after her husband's disappearance and abandoned her in Turkey, where she ended up at a police station and later a hospital with no food, money, clothing or ticket home.

Strange, huh?

[metmom]

She had an insurance policy? Or maybe the husband's family has money and she gets half his inheritance. And a newly married couple that didn't spend 24/7 with each other? The question of where she was when this happened is a really good one.

[chickenteeth]

I have heard there have been many unprosecuted rapes by crew members.

[pepperdog]

I've said before that the hotel staff of the cruise lines are predominately Muslim. That's reason enough to stay off cruise ships as far as I'm concerned. They could be throwing off a few just for practice for the Big One where they hold a whole ship hostage and deep six the passengers on world wide TV. Remember what they did to the wheelchair bound Jewish guy some years ago.

[jdm]

"She had an insurance policy? Or maybe the husband's family has money and she gets half his inheritance."

Definitely a motive. His family is extremely well-to-do.

[higgmeister]

Remember what they did to the wheelchair bound Jewish guy some years ago.

It was Leon Klinghoffer. I believe that was either done
by Abu Abbas or Abu Nadal the swine that threatened to
murder Col. North.