Mystery surrounds woman’s cruise ship plunge

A BRISBANE woman was playing table tennis just minutes before she plunged to her death from the top deck of a P&O cruise ship, an eyewitness has claimed.

The 47-year-old passenger walked to a deck about 5m from the ping-pong table and began to vomit while leaning over a railing of the Pacific Dawn.

In an instant, a family holiday turned to tragedy as she fell from the liner, watched by her distraught husband who collapsed in shock, according to the witness. “Leaning over, not far over, then she fell. When she went over he collapsed,” the guest on board said.

The ship circled for hours in a frantic search for the woman after the incident about 150 nautical miles off New Caledonia about 4pm on Thursday. The vessel stayed to search again after sunrise yesterday, before giving up about 7.30am.

The ship is expected to dock in Brisbane at 6am tomorrow.