When cruising is a crime

The US Congress, investigating security in the $30-billion-a-year cruise industry, heard that 178 passengers reported sexual assaults and 24 passengers disappeared in a three-year period.

Cruise officials are quick to note that these figures are not high when considering that more than 10 million Americans go on cruises every year.

Two hundred cruise ships dock in the United States, 198 of which are registered in foreign countries, exempting them from abiding by most US laws and regulations, says the AP.

Among those testifying to Congress: Angela Orlich of Springfield, Mass., who with family and friends, went on a Royal Caribbean cruise in January of 2003.

Aboard the ship, Orlich bought a scuba excursion in Cozumel, Mexico. But once her instructor got her alone underwater, she says he started to sexually assault her.

“I started going towards the rope and I started to pull myself up on the rope, and he was pushing me down,” Orlich said. “I started going up the rope again and at this time he started taking my bathing suit off, pulling it down.”

She said he proceeded to shut her air tank off.

“I don’t know if he was trying to murder me or what. But I got back up, I got to the top” she said.

Last March, Terry L. Dale, president and CEO of the Cruise Lines International Association, testified before Congress that “the cruise industry has a zero tolerance for crime.”

In the past, it’s not been known how common crime was aboard cruise ships. But a new reporting arrangement last April gives a more definitive picture, according to FBI officials who said the cruise lines have reported 207 possible crimes since the new rules.

Of those, 72 were considered to be potentially serious crimes by the FBI, including 41 reports of sexual assault. It opened 18 investigations, including 13 for rape.

Cruise lines in April agreed to telephone the FBI upon learning of eight types of crimes, including homicides, suspicious deaths, sexual assaults and the disappearance of US nationals.

Congress has held four hearings on cruise security since 2006. Some committee members have pressed for improved reporting of incidents.

“Improving safety certainly is the best way they can protect their corporate interests and image,” said Rep. Elijah Cummings, chairman of the House Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation.

Gary Bald, chief security officer at Royal Caribbean Cruises, said his line is taking steps advocated by victims, including more security cameras and guards on ships.

Report by David Wilkening