Coronavirus Australia: Crew claim they are stranded on ship; Ruby Princess official surprised at lack of NSW Health supervision

Desperate crew members say they are stranded on the Ruby Princess, denied the chance to disembark before it departed Sydney.

A local resident watches the Ruby Princess set sail from Port Kembla, south of Sydney, on Thursday. Picture: AAP

A second high-ranking Ruby Princess official has placed the blame for the cruise ship fiasco — resulting in at least 20 coronavirus-¬related deaths and more than 700 infections — on NSW Health, saying he was stunned by its lack of oversight and unsure why passengers were allowed off the vessel without undergoing screening. .

Charles Verwall, hotel general manager of the Ruby Princess, told a NSW special commission of inquiry on Thursday there were heightened concerns on board about the risk of COVID-19 before it docked in Sydney last month.

“In my recollection, we were all concerned because, as we know now, at that moment a lot of things were going on in the world, so we were very concerned,” he said.

“That is why we were surprised we were not screened by NSW in the morning (of our arrival).”

The senior cruise official was giving evidence on the second day of the inquiry via videolink from the luxury liner, just hours before it departed Australian waters, ending a month-long standoff between officials on how to deal with the ship at the centre of Australia’s largest coronavirus outbreak.

He said the decision by NSW Health not to board the ship on ¬arrival on March 19, as on previous occasions, compounded the confusion around whether the ship could be contaminated.

The inquiry heard that when it first arrived in Sydney on March 8 to disembark a previous group of passengers, it was boarded by NSW Health officials for testing and screening of more than 300 guests known to be unwell.

“We were really surprised that we didn’t have the same treatment from NSW public health (on March 19) that we did on the eighth,” Mr Verwall said.

“When you say you were very surprised at the very different treatment, should the commissioner take that to mean passengers were allowed to leave the ship before the COVID-19 results were made available?” asked counsel assisting the inquiry, Richard ¬Beasley SC.

“Correct,” said Mr Verwall, who later agreed with Commissioner Bret Walker that there was a “real possibility” one or more passengers had COVID-19 at the time of arrival on March 19.

Mr Verwall’s evidence echoed that of the ship’s chief medical officer, Ilse Von Watzdorf, who told the inquiry on Wednesday she was surprised it was allowed to dock and disembark passengers before testing had been completed.

The decision to allow nearly 2700 passengers off the ship resulted in hundreds¬ of infected passengers dispersing to cities across the country and was ultimately responsible for 10 per cent of the nation’s total ¬coronavirus cases.

A crew member on the stricken ship says goodbye. Picture: Simon Bullard

Mr Verwall said existing concerns about the pathogen had also been allayed by negative test results delivered while the ship was docked in New Zealand.

“Don’t forget that we had five test results back which were negative, and then NSW did not come on board to do the clearance, so it gives you mixed feelings; you think perhaps it could be (COVID-19), but on the other hand the signals you get are that it’s not the case, so it’s very difficult,” Mr Verwall said.

The Ruby Princess sailed out of Port Kembla, south of Sydney, at 4.45pm on Thursday, bound for The Philippines capital, Manila, then the US. More than half the ship’s 1056 crew disembarked this week for repatriation to 15 countries. Of the 542 crew who left, 33 had tested positive for COVID-19. They will leave the country after 14 days of hotel quarantine, ¬according to police.

The NSW Police Force has said repeatedly anyone wanting to disembark from the ship could do so if they were healthy enough and could prove they had travel arrangements in place. Yet not everyone on board appeared to have been given the opportunity.

Disgruntled crew trapped on board said they were not given a chance to disembark. Emails to NSW Opposition Leader Jodi McKay, a strong advocate for those on board, by crew and their families revealed some were distraught at seeing colleagues disembark to be repatriated via chartered flights without being given the same opportunity.

“My daughter’s plight is that she (is) not being informed about anything,” wrote the mother of a crew member on Thursday. “They were just told yesterday the ship is leaving today. Seeing so many others leave, and not her, her anguish, and ours, has been at a peak.”

One South American crew member wrote: “I really want to go back to my country, but -unfortunately we don’t have an answer about it. No one asks me if I want to stay on board.”

Another crew member wrote: “Some nationalities like myself have been left totally in the dark. We were never mentioned in any of the onboard announcements for repatriation.”

A spokesperson for the ship’s owners said the remaining crew could not leave because of a lack of flight pathways and “factors such as closed borders to their home countries”.

“We could have disembarked more crew in Port Kembla but they would have needed to stay in shoreside accommodation for a few days before joining a flight and authorities here wouldn’t allow it.”