Man who died jumping off cruise ship after girlfriend recommended for bravery award, inquest hears.

By MAZOE FORD.

Police have called for a paramedic who jumped off a cruise ship to try to save his girlfriend to be recognised with the highest possible bravery award for his act of “supreme courage”.

Paul Rossington, 30, and Kristen Schroder, 26, were on board the Carnival Spirit off the NSW coast near Forster in May 2013 when Ms Schroder slipped overboard and Mr Rossington jumped after her.

No-one knew the couple was missing until the next morning, when the Carnival Spirit arrived at Circular Quay.

An inquest is being held into the couple’s deaths, to try to understand what happened and ascertain whether any lessons could be learned by the cruise ship industry about man overboard procedures.

The inquest was told the couple was on the cruise ship with Ms Schroder’s family, but had been spending most of their time together in what they said was a “make or break” holiday for their relationship.

Counsel assisting the inquest Senior Constable Erika Mulligan said CCTV captured Mr Rossington and Ms Schroder having a “terse conversation” by the poker machines, then other passengers heard them having an argument in a restaurant, before they went separately back to their room.

Mr Rossington arrived back in the room first and got into bed, before Ms Schroder arrived a few minutes later and went out onto the balcony.

CCTV showed the pair fall overboard

CCTV showed a figure, believed to be Ms Schroder, falling towards the water at 8:48pm and then a much brighter figure jump in a few moments later.

“I think [Kristin] has slipped and fallen as she’s holding onto the rails,” Detective Sergeant Michael O’Keefe told the inquest.

“She holds that rail for approximately four seconds then hits the railing on the third deck and topples and somersaults into the water.

“When [Paul] has seen her slip he’s jumped out of bed and when she’s fallen he’s gone straight over after her.”

The detective said police recommended Mr Rossington, a paramedic from country New South Wales, receive the Cross of Valour for his actions.

“That act of conspicuous courage should not go unnoticed,” Detective Sergeant O’Keefe said.

The captain was made aware the couple were missing at 10:00am and ordered security to search the ship and look at CCTV footage.

Police arrived to set up a crime scene and an air and sea search taking in 1,400 square nautical miles was carried out, but the couple were never found.

‘No reliable solutions found yet’ in overboard technology trials

Carnival Australia’s director of shore side operations, Denise Minakowski, told the inquest her company had been trialling man overboard technology since 2006.

“We have invested a lot of time and money,” Ms Minakowski said.

“We have looked at what’s available in Europe, Asia, everywhere.”

She said the Carnival group had conducted trials using man overboard dummies, infrared technology and GPS wrist bands, but no reliable solutions had been found yet.

Ms Minakowski said that what works on land does not translate to the marine environment because of sea spray, weather and the speed of the ship.

“The cruise ship industry as a whole wants this technology, we want to know when someone goes overboard,” Ms Minakowski said.

She said alarms and information posters about man overboard procedures could be found in common areas on the Carnival Spirit, but not in individual rooms.

Mr Rossington’s mother Christeen Rossington welcomed the completion of the inquest and said the family looked forward to the coroner’s findings and recommendations.

“Our focus remains firmly on working to ensure that every effort possible is taken to improve cruise ship safety to ensure an accident like the one which claimed Paul and Kristen’s lives never happens again,” she said.

“In our eyes Paul died a hero, doing what he loved – caring for those around him.

“Losing him is a tragedy for our family. We hope Paul’s legacy will see the introduction of safer cruise ship practices and protocols to reduce the risk of another tragedy occurring.”

This article was originally published by ABC News. 

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