Confined to cruise ships due to the new coronavirus pandemic, several crew members appear to have killed themselves recently and others have gone on hunger strike in order to be able to return home.
On Sunday, a 39-year-old Ukrainian woman killed herself by jumping overboard the Regal Princess, off the Dutch port of Rotterdam, confirmed the company Princess Cruises, owned by the cruise giant Carnival. The ship was in the process of repatriating its personnel trapped on board.
Several employee suicides
Two other cruise ship crew members have died in the past few days in unclear circumstances. A man apparently committed suicide on Saturday aboard the Carnival Breeze, which was sailing between the Bahamas and Europe, where his crew was to disembark.
"His death is not related to Covid-19, but out of respect for his family, we will not give more details," commented a spokesperson for the Carnival group. An employee of another boat, the Jewel of the Seas, died on May 2 after going overboard. Royal Caribbean has said it is cooperating with the authorities in their investigation.
"We all have the feeling of being taken hostage"
Fourteen crew members of the Navigator of the Seas, anchored in the port of Miami, also went on a hunger strike in order to be able to return to shore.
"We all have the feeling of being taken hostage," one of them told the Miami Herald on condition of anonymity. "The company (Royal Caribbean) must understand that we are not boxes of food that we can move here and there". According to the US Coast Guard, 104 cruise ships are currently off the coast of the United States, with nearly 72,000 crew members on board in total.
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