Silent cruise toll revealed as Aussies opt for ocean voyages

CRUISING is riding the crest of a very large wave of success, with the number of Australian passengers more than doubling from 330,000 to almost 800,000 in five years.

While the brochures conjure up images of sunny funfilled days afloat in paradise, there is a dark side.

The world watched aghast as the Costa Concordia capsized off the Italian coast two years ago, with the loss of 32 lives. But there is a greater silent toll.

Canadian university professor Ross Klein told a US senate inquiry that 20 to 25 passengers are lost overboard every year worldwide — one every two to three weeks.

He has logged more than 200 fatalities — equivalent to six Costa Concordia disasters.

Last weekend, a passenger died after falling from the Rhapsody of the Seas, about 550km off the Queensland coast, en route from Sydney to Noumea.

His body was recovered after an extensive search.

It was the fourth overboard fatality from cruise ships off Australia this year.

Sex At Sea, a 2011 report by Prof Klein and New Zealand researcher Dr Jill Poulsen — using data from the FBI and the two biggest cruise lines — found the rate of sexual assaults on board liners was 50 per cent higher than on land.

Up to 70 per cent of offences were committed by crew members on passengers and, disturbingly, one in six victims was aged under 18.

Kendall Carver, founder and president of lobby group International Cruise Victims Association, said the ships were essentially ‘‘ lawless’’ floating towns populated by thousands of strangers.

‘‘If someone went to Australia with a business plan for a resort for 400- plus people, with a constant supply of alcohol and no police and plans to recruit the workers from third-world countries on low wages, they would be laughed out. But that’s the situation on cruise ships,’’ he said.