the death of Paul O Brien

When I was researching the story Lost at Sea about Rebecca Coriam, who went missing on the Disney Wonder, I heard the Lynsey O Brien story. This is what I wrote at the time:

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‘“There’s a man in Ireland had a 15-year-old daughter,” Carver said. “One cruise served her eight drinks in an hour. She went to the balcony and threw up and went overboard. She was gone.”

The case he’s talking about is that of Lynsey O’Brien, who went missing on 5 January 2006 while on a cruise with her family off the Mexican coast. The cruise line, Costa Magica, conducted its own investigation into her disappearance and decided there was “no evidence of an accidental fall”, that Lynsey had shown the bartender ID stating that she was 23 years old and that her death was caused by “underage drinking”. While they “continued to extend their deepest sympathy” to the family, they claimed their report cleared them of any wrongdoing.

"In other corporations, police get involved," Carver said. "On cruise ships they have, quote, security officers, but they work for the cruise lines. They aren’t going to do anything when the lines get sued. We came to the conclusion cover-up is the standard operating procedure.” He paused. “And the Coriam girl. Where is the CCTV footage?”

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Last September Lynsey’s father Paul emailed me because he’d written a book he was going to self-publish about his daughter:

"My book is not about making money it’s about stopping the horrors that’s happening on board these cruise ships. What myself and mike lost no money can replace. The book should be out next week in America and I will forward you all the links. If you want me to email you a proof I can, so you can read the extent of losing a child has on the mind” 

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Mike Coriam just emailed me to say that Paul has been found dead. From today’s Irish Independent:

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/dad-of-tragic-cruise-teen-lynsey-obrien-is-found-dead-29406503.html

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The last line of his email to me haunted me at the time and does again now, especially when you remember what kind of investigations take place when someone goes missing from a cruise ship.

Here’s my full Lost At Sea story:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/nov/11/rebecca-coriam-lost-at-sea