A woman, who went missing while on the Tirrenia Sharden ferry between Sardinia and Genoa, Italy, has been found dead two months later in the ship's ventilation shaft
The husband of a missing woman, who was last seen on the Tirrenia Sharden ferry, has criticised the ship’s crew for not carrying out a proper search of the vessel.
The body of the German national, Imelda Bechstein has only now been found, two months after she went missing.
The 74-year-old was travelling with her husband, Ernst between Sardinia and Genoa on the Italian mainland when she disappeared on 30 October 2016.
She was last seen by her husband on a sun lounger.
“We rested in sleeping-chairs. When I woke up later, my wife had disappeared,” Ernst Bechstein told The Mirror.
He searched for his wife before notifying the ferry staff.
The captain then gave the order to search the entire ship, but no trace of Imelda Bechstein was found until her body was discovered recently in a maintenance shaft off the Engine Room.
Bechstein believes his wife should not have been able to enter the engine room area. “It should have been curtained off,” he said.
He also stated that “she might still have been alive” today if a more thorough search of the ferry had been carried out by the crew.
A post mortem examination has revealed that Imelda, who lived in Munich, Germany, with her husband, died the night she disappeared.
An investigation by the Italian authorities is now underway.
The Tirrenia Sharden ferry can carry up to 3,000 passengers, 1,080 vehicles and has 320 cabins.
On board facilities include two bars, a cinema room, a vending machine, a restaurant, children’s play area and a self-service store.
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