Cruise Ship Lawyers Blog
We have previously reported on the suspicious death of Kenneth John Gemmell who was a cruise passenger on the Allure of the Seas, a cruise ship operated by Royal Caribbean Cruises.
It has not been over two weeks since the 30-year-old man disappeared at sea and the questions asked by the family to help them understand what may have happened on the night of the incident still remain unanswered today.
Initially, Royal Caribbean issued a statement saying that their passenger apparently committed suicide. That conclusion had been reached after the cruise company spokesman confirmed that existed video footage of Kenneth Gemmell standing up on the table in his cabin and jumping off the ship, apparently on his own.
Read more on the initial statement by Royal Caribbean here: Another Death of 30 year-old Royal Caribbean Cruise Passenger
Despite the claim that said video footage exists, the family has yet to see it. In the days following the incident, the authorities in charge of this passenger disappearance case stated that the open investigation was still ongoing and that they could not reach the same conclusion that Royal Caribbean had reached only several hours after the tragedy occurred.
In the last week, many passengers who were on that same cruise began to come forward by reaching out to the Gemmell’s family directly, while others left comments on the internet, describing what they recall seeing or knowing about the incident that may be of help in piecing together the last few hours of Kenneth’s life aboard the Allure of the Seas.
Of particular interest, we have now learned that Kenneth entered into an argument with a cruise employee that night. The employee in question is so far nowhere to be found. The family suspects that the employee was allowed, by Royal Caribbean, to disembark in Cozumel, Mexico.
While Royal immediately issued a statement contradicting these latest reports, the latest declarations made by the family to the media yesterday certainly add another layer of suspicion surrounding this case.
The family confirmed to Examiner.com that the lead investigator in the Bahamas has confirmed to them that Royal Caribbean has video footage of the dispute between Kenneth and the cruise employee/bartender. He further confirmed that, contrary to what it stated in one of its earlier releases, Royal did in fact allow one of its employees to board off the ship and was never asked to return.
This raises suspicion on what happened in the moments leading to Kenneth’s disappearance. Several fellow cruisers who were on the Allure of the Seas have commented on several internet forums and online boards that the employee with whom Kenneth was seen to have an argument was selling drugs to passengers.
It would take one very small leap to conclude that the bartender who left the ship knows something about what happened to Kenneth that night. What was the argument about? Is there video footage of the bartender and Kenneth walking back together to Kenneth’s cabin?
There are still many questions to be answered, but thus far, the family has not even been shown the video footage of Kenneth supposedly jumping off the railing of his ship cabin, nor the video footage of the dispute he had with Royal’s employee.
Read our previous articles on this tragedy:
Cruise Passenger who fell off the Allure of the Seas was not suicidal
Family of Deceased Cruise Passenger Seeks Information from Fellow Cruisers
