U.S. Woman Dies Aboard Cruise Ship to Brazil

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Brazil's federal police investigate the death of a U.S. woman aboard a cruise ship that sailed off from Chile at the beginning of the month en route to Rio de Janeiro. The cruise was plagued by a gastroenteritis outbreak that affected 86 passengers and crew.

Brazilian police were investigating the death of a U.S. tourist aboard a trans-Atlantic cruise ship that docked in Rio de Janeiro on Tuesday (November 22) morning.

According to crew members, 61-year-old Dorothy Missen Philips died aboard the vessel that was on a 16-day tour around South America.

The MS Veendam ship belonged to Holland America Line and carried 1,258 passengers and 560 crew members.

On Tuesday, Brazil's police and health surveillance agents inspected the ship and took the vessel's captain and the head of its medical team to testify in the federal police headquarters.

The country's national health surveillance agency (Anvisa) said in a statement that 86 people -- 79 passengers and seven crew members -- had been reported with gastroenteritis since the cruise sailed off from Valparaiso in the beginning of the month.

The cruiser stopped by Argentina and Uruguay before arriving in Rio.

Anvisa added that the outbreak seemed to have been brought under control considering that only one passenger presented gastroenteritis symptoms upon the arrival in Rio, the ship's final destination.

Officers were investigating if the woman's death was related to the illness outbreak.

Philips' body was taken to Rio's Institute of Forensic Medicine to undergo an autopsy to confirm death causes.

Holland America also said in the statement another guest had died of heart problems during the voyage.

The company added that the ship was sanitised on Tuesday afternoon, before hundreds of guests boarded for a 16-day cruise that set sail for Chile later that day.

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