Alaskan cruise passenger an apparent suicide

A woman on board a Holland America cruise went overboard, reportedly committing suicide.

Travel Insurance News - 06/08/2009

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Holland American spokeswoman Sally Andrews commented: “Based on evidence and information to date, it does not appear to be foul play.”

She added: “From what we have seen to date, it appears to be a suicide. Of course, the final determination will be made by the investigating authorities with whom we are cooperating fully.”

The identity of the passenger was revealed by the US Coast Guard as 45-year-old Amber Malkuch, a resident of Arlington, Washington.

Coast Guard Petty Officer Jon-Paul Rios said: “They have confirmed that is the woman we're looking for due to finding her ID on her person.”

An investigation was to be launched by Alaska state troopers on Tuesday when the ship docked in Sitka. A spokeswoman for the state troopers indicated that they were not prepared to make a determination of manner of death until the investigation was complete.

The spokeswoman, Megan Peters, noted: “We still have to do our investigation, and we're not going to make any guesses at this time,” and added: “It is too premature to label it anything but a death investigation. Suicide is certainly a possibility, but we need to investigate and we need to make sure.”

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