PTT

MUSIC

JEFF GREEN (10.00):

Antarctica is, is like the jewel in the crown really.  It’s another world. 

Once you’ve done Antarctica, unfortunately everything else seems a little bit dull.

MUSIC

JEFF (3J / 13.39):

My wife was against me going.  And I said to her, well, I'll probably live to tell the tale.

And it turns out I did. And it's quite a tale.

MUSIC

It’s the tale of more than 200 people who embarked on an Antarctic cruise during a pandemic.

MUSIC SHIFT FROM TINGLING TO ALARMING (and into PTT proper)

At a cost of around $20,000, Australian company Aurora Expeditions was offering passengers a taste of adventure – but for some, it would end in tragedy.

DR USME (1U / 36.41):

March 23, three patients with fever. March 24, five patients with fever.

More than half of them got COVID-19.

DR KARINA RANDO (4U / 2.06):

We said, we have to do something. These people cannot stay in that boat for longer.

For one person, the trip would be fatal.

GRAHAM (2G / 35.50ish):

So they got a wheelchair and popped her in the wheelchair. And that's the last I saw of her.

TITLE:

DEADLY TRIP OF A LIFETIME

by Amos Roberts, Agnes Teek,

Simon Phegan & Guillermo Garat

PART 1

A HOLIDAY GONE WRONG

(1) SETTING OFF ON THE HOLIDAY OF A LIFETIME

MUSIC

Melbourne’s second-wave lockdown prevents me from traveling overseas for Dateline.

AMOS:

No, you can’t take my phone.  Alright, take my phone, take my phone [laughing]

Cooped up at home instead, I’ve been puzzling over the saga of the ship named after Australian mountaineer, Greg Mortimer…

AMOS (00.06):

Buenas dias, Dr Rando.

KARINA RANDO:

Buenas dias, hello, how are you?

The Greg Mortimer was like a microcosm of the pandemic, where everyone experiences the same events differently.

PEOPLE ON GLACIER (JF4 / 00.11):

Hi. We’re having a wonderful day out in um… the Antarctica.

For some, the virus threatened their vacation, for others their livelihood, or even their life.

MUSIC

Our story begins on the 15^th of March in Ushuaia on the southern tip of Latin America – 4 days after the World Health Organization declared a global pandemic.

MUSIC

The plan was to set off that afternoon, crossing the Drake Passage to the Antarctic Peninsula, then to South Georgia, the Falklands, and back to Argentina.

DR USME (1U / 11.55):

For me was a completely surprise in the moment that the new group of passengers came on board.

MUSIC

DR USME (1C / 2.54):

My name is Mauricio Usme. I'm the emergency medical doctor in Medellín Colombia. And also, I was the medical officer on board of the Greg Mortimer ship.

DR USME (1C / 10.56):

March 11 /// the World Health Organization gave the alert about the pandemic condition regarding the coronavirus. Uh, that's mean for us that we are on the risk with the new embarkation.

(14.59) The possible. The possible, uh, the, the new passengers, maybe someone is sick. And these people /// will bring the virus on board for us.

ANGELA (1CH / 7.15:)

We went ahead on a cruise that should have never been started because all was already on fire. (7.24)

MUSIC

Angela Gavilan is also Colombian, but lives in Chile.

She’s worked on cruise ships for more than 14 years as a maid.

MUSIC

ANGELA (1CH / 6.31):

Other companies had already ceased operations. My husband works on cruise ships too. (6.40)

(6.49) They stopped earlier and went into quarantine long before the worldwide alert. (6.57)

(7.03) There wasn’t a single case of coronavirus on their boat. Everyone went home happy. (7.10) Unlike them, we embarked on an odyssey on March 15. (7.15)

While many crew members were afraid of the trip going ahead, some of the passengers were afraid it wouldn’t.

MUSIC

ANTONY (AZ1 / 3.18):

I'm Antony Philip. I live in Sydney. I used to fly for 20 years as a long-haul flight attendant and I’ve travelled to over 170 countries and territories.

MUSIC

ANTONY (AZ1 / 6.59):

I'd describe myself as an adventurous traveller.

AMOS (AZ1 / 10.17):

So how were you feeling about the decision to embark on another international holiday when coronavirus was obviously affecting some parts of the world?

ANTONY (AZ1 / 11.16):

Not unconcerned and not unaware, but not believing that there was any inherent danger about what I was about to embark on.

SEAGULLS & SEA

ANTONY (11.45): On the 15th of March, we had a, a pre-trip briefing // hosted by the managing director of Aurora expeditions. And he assured us that it was without doubt, the safest place on the planet to be - there was no corona whatsoever.

MUSIC

GRAHAM (10.18):

I would have been disappointed had it not gone ahead. Because I had been anticipating this life dream for some time and look really looking forward to it.

GRAHAM HERO SHOT

Graham Paget is a retired surgeon from Denmark, West Australia, who had a lifelong dream of walking with penguins.

He booked a cabin on the Greg Mortimer with his wife, Rose, who was also celebrating her 75^th birthday.

GRAHAM (2G / 6.35):

There were several in our party who were very concerned that the trip was going ahead

and they, uh, had expressed these misgivings to the management of the trip. /// But they were told that, uh, it was going to go ahead and if they chose to pull out, then there would be no refund or recourse.

(2) A WONDERFUL HOLIDAY - CUT SHORT

5 minutes

TITLE:

15 MARCH

SHIP’S HORN (start of BM001)

GM pulling away from dock – 0.42/  BM0002

The Greg Mortimer was the last cruise ship to leave Ushuaia.

ANTONY (AZ1 / 18.51):

I remember being overwhelmed with excitement. I was pinching myself.

(19.00) It was just truly such a remarkable experience to be pushing back from the port of Ushuaia, embarking on this trip that I had hoped to accomplish many, many years ago and now it was actually happening.

MUSIC

AMOS (2G / 12.58):

Tell me about the first night.

GRAHAM (13,.03):

We had a party for Rose because it was her birthday. And also for one of the other guys from Denmark. Uh, so it was a joint birthday party and with a good celebration.

AMOS (13.19):

How does that feel, looking back on that now?

GRAHAM (13.37):

To be honest, I can't remember much about it.

(14.57) The events that followed on from that have just shadowed over it, I'm afraid for me.

The first sign that the Greg Mortimer might be in trouble came just hours after it set off, when Argentina’s president made a live televised address.

LIB190320 RTV HEALTH CORONAVRISU LATAM

ARGENTINA PRESIDENT (00.24):

We have made the decision that during the next 15 days we will close the borders. No one can enter Argentina.

Their route back was now blocked.

JEFF (17.09):

It was almost like the trap was already sprung. This was already my feeling of oh dear. You know, this could, this could not go well.

MUSIC

JEFF (8.12):

My name's Jeff Green, I live in New Zealand, and I was the expedition doctor on the Greg Mortimer.

JEFF AT HOME

JEFF (16.12):

It clearly was that we're going to have to find a plan B straightaway.

(16.43) So we were going to do a trip to the peninsula and then we were going to fly out from the Falklands back home.

PASSENGER VIDEO SNOWFIGHT ON DECK

It was a few more days before passengers were told of the plan to cut the trip short and leave from the Falklands.

They felt that everything possible was being done to ensure their safety.

ANTONY (AZ1 / 20.57):

There were sanitizing stations everywhere to clean your hands. They kept reminding us that this was necessary.

(21.13) Before going into eat in the dining room, they literally had a staff member watch us wash our hands with soap and water.

UPSOT MAID CLEANING

ANTONY (AZ1 / 21.33):

There was staff, perpetually cleaning banisters, handrails, all the kinds of touch points that one would expect.

/ it was a very proactive approach to trying to stop something before it started.

UPSOT ROOM CLEANING

SPANISH SUBREEL

ANGELA (CH1 / 18.44:)

I was always feeling that… uncertainty. So I worked as quickly as possible and protected myself as much as I could. I was always thinking, “I hope no one has the virus. I hope the passengers are safe.” (19.02)

MUSIC

Many of the crew were frightened of the passengers, who they regarded as a source of possible infection.

SPANISH SUBREEL

ANGELA (CH1 / 21.06):

Yes, the fear was always there. It’s like an intuition /// When you have a gut feeling about something, but you hope you’re wrong.

TITLE:

18 MARCH

MUSIC

ANTONY (AZ1 / 21.59):

On the 18th we arrived.

(22.04) We arrived at early morning to be surrounded by glaciers and icebergs /// it was gobsmackingly beautiful. It was so pristine. The colour of the light, I sound really like whacked, but it was like nothing else I'd ever seen.

(22.51) Everybody was running around, clicking away, whether it was an iPhone or a big SLR. They were videoing. Everybody was oohing and ahhing.

VIDEO OF WHALES

GRAHAM (2G / 20.58):

We could /// just see these wonderful animals doing their thing. In spite of us. They weren't perturbed by us at all. It was just beautiful. Um, and one of my pictures /// is of, uh, a seal that was swimming just alongside the Zodiac /// And he popped up and looked at me /// sort of saying, hello, who are you?

JEFF (19.26):

You're seeing things that are just gobsmacking. So the mood was great. / There was always that feeling that we had, we were the lucky ones. Everyone we knew back on Planet Earth was, was going into an increasingly meltdown situation. But at that moment we felt that we were in this great little bubble of purity.

TITLE:

22 MARCH

MUSIC

AMOS (22.02):

What, what happened to change all that?

JEFF (22.20:

I already started noticing more people, coughing and sneezing in the talks. And I was already ahhhh. What if? You know, so I repeated my hygiene talk. 

(22.41) But then on the afternoon of that day, one of the passengers came up to me and said, um, I'd like you to come and see my wife. Uh, well, my partner, um, she's got a fever.

MUSIC

JEFF (23.03):

It was, you know, it was high enough to be significant. So I immediately went and told Mauricio who was the ship's doctor.

So I immediately went and told Mauricio who was the ship's doctor and actually had the sort of legal medical responsibility for the whole boat.

And we went together.

This was like, “Oh, so close!” I mean, I must admit what went through my mind was, “And so it starts.

(3) COVID STRIKES & LOCKDOWN

MUSIC

USME (1C / 27.46):

Jeff called me about one passenger reporting, maybe fever

(28.38) The protocol was very clear. We need to put under isolation all the ship. Until we can rule out if we have or not, COVID-19

MUSIC

ANTONY (AZ1 / 34.59):

We were informed in the morning that we were required to stay inside our cabins.

(35.11) There was no talk that it was

/ COVID, it was just, somebody had shown a higher temperature reading. // But they said to take necessary precautions we're going to keep you all apart from each other. /// And all services, meals would be delivered to us.

SPANISH SUBREEL

ANGELA (CH1 / 31.20:)

In those days, there was more work and also more pressure and anxiety because it wasn’t a holiday cruise anymore. All the passengers were locked up and we were taking care of them. (31.39)

MUSIC

JEFF (28.41):

We would go into full PPE and Mauricio, and I would then go and we divided up the different decks and we would work our way through, uh, and we'd record all of the temperatures. Uh, obviously looking for anyone spiking, other fevers.

(29.03) We had a couple of days where really, it just seemed like maybe this is just one person, you know, maybe this is just a one off.

(28.12) But because of that one fever already, it meant that the Falklands wasn't going to happen.

MUSIC

SPANISH SUBREEL

ANGELA (CH1 / 34.56):

We were turned away at the Falkland Islands.  We had to continue on our uncertain route.  We didn’t know where to go.

JEFF (30.00):

What happens now is that we changed to plan C. Yeah. And when we start heading off to Montevideo, so that's when we start getting more rolling fevers.

DR USME (1U / 36.41):

March 23, three patients with fever. March 24, five patients with fever. In the moment that we did reach Uruguay we had minimum 10 people with fever.

Drone shots of Montevideo port / GVs

MUSIC

Their new destination – plan C – was Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay, and the closest major port.

But at a time when cruise ships are being turned away from ports around the world, no one was sure what kind of welcome they would receive there.

ANTONY (AZ1 / 40.43):

I was now wondering if we would be allowed to disembark with people with a temperature.

(4) PRESSURE FROM ABOVE – BULLYING OF DR USME

MUSIC

As head doctor, Mauricio Usme found himself responsible for the health of more than 200 people on a ship that probably had a deadly virus on board.

But if he was expecting support from the ship’s owners, he was disappointed.

MUSIC

HAIFER EMAIL:

I wish to make it clear to you that if you do not provide me with the information I require and follow my direction, you will never work for us again.

South African-born entrepreneur Glenn Haifer is also a registered doctor and was medical consultant to P&O Cruises for 15 years.

Haifer bought a stake in Aurora when well-known mountaineer Greg Mortimer stepped back from the company he’d founded.

We approached Glenn Haifer and Aurora for an interview but they declined.

USME (1C / 34.54):

I cannot understand why this person send me this email in this very rude tone and threatening me was I was very disappointed.

I was feeling that maybe I have not the support, you know, the support from the company.

JEFF (30.30):

Dr Usme is one of the best doctors I've ever worked with. / He was under enormous pressure. /// He was really the man in the middle. He was shouldering the entire, uh, responsibility and care of the ship.

MUSIC

PASSENGERS LEAVING RUBY PRINCESS

As the ship sailed towards Uruguay, there was public outcry in Sydney over passengers who’d been allowed to disembark from the Ruby Princess less than a week earlier.

900 people would end up with COVID-19, and 28 people died as a result.

Dr Usme thought it was his duty to include as much detail as possible on the health declaration for the Uruguayan authorities.

GRAPHIC

MUSIC

Dr Usme said that those on board the Greg Mortimer had been quarantined, and that COVID-19 needed to be ruled out.

MUSIC

But Glenn Haifer was worried about whether they’d be allowed to disembark.

GRAPHIC 

HAIFER EMAIL VO:

“The risk we run is that of public outcry and that wharf side workers refuse to allow the ship to berth and allow passenger to disembark. [...] Please bear in mind that how you write the health declaration will influence the way that this is viewed. We do not know if we have COVID-19. We are taking precautions as if we do. Give limited information truthfully…

USME GREETS CAPTAIN:

Hola Capitan.

CAPTAIN:

Hola…

In a recording made by Dr Usme on the 23^rd of March, the ship’s captain said he didn’t believe the ship was in quarantine.

GRAPHIC

CAPTAIN (3.48)

The ship is not under quarantine.  That is clear.

USME:

No the ship is under quarantine.

CAPTAIN:

No it’s not.

USME:

Yes.

- No

- Yes

DR USME (1U / 45.31):

And I told to the Captain, I never going to change the health declaration because the health declaration for Uruguay is showing the real situation on board.

JEFF (31.15):

He's a very moral person.

(31.22) He's got a very profound unshakeable, moral integrity. He kind of is almost a bit old school. That he works out of medicine as a calling as a vocation rather than a job. And that became clear as I worked with him.

USME (1U / 47.39):

You know I was very confused.  In this moment my feeling was I'm alone. nobody is helping me here.

Hold  USME SHOT under this line if possible

The Drone of GM out to sea

Aurora Expeditions disagrees with Dr Usme.

In response, they said the highly selective leaking of communications may serve the frustrations and agendas of individual parties, but does not reflect the facts.

(5) URUGUAY TO THE RESCUE

5 MINUTES

TITLE:

27 MARCH

MUSIC

AMOS (40.47):

So what, what happens as you approach Uruguay? Are you able to dock in Montevideo?

JEFF:

No not at all. And in fact, the whole of the Rio de la Plata was full of ships in our situation.

(41.08) We were basically moored 20k off of Montevideo.

JEFF READS A BLOODY LONELY PLANET

So far, everyone who was sick only had mild symptoms – but Dr Green was afraid of what would happen if that changed, and they needed access to a hospital.

JEFF (43.34):

At that stage, I was doing the maths, if it was COVID. And we had a population of 200 people. That could mean 20 to 40 people getting really sick

AMOS (44.06):

Given what was happening in hospitals in Northern Italy at the time you must have dreaded that possibility.

JEFF:

Absolutely. You know I'd already kind of followed and heard from doctors and nurses working in that situation. It was like a war zone, you know. And I, I kind of, at that stage, didn't know if that wasn't going to be reproduced in our situation.

MORE TENSE MUSIC

Soon enough, the doctors were confronted with their first seriously ill patient – Sydney physiotherapist, Karl Schurr.

MUSIC

A photo records the moment that Dr Usme calls for help from the bridge.

JEFF (45,42):

It was our test case. Basically, we approached the hospitals in Uruguay in Montevideo and

(45.57) then luckily the British hospital accepted this patient. And within hours we were getting a coast guard out and the famous transfer of our first patient occurred.

TITLE:

31 MARCH

KARL EVACUATED – NAVY FOOTAGE RANDOM

MUSIC

Karl Schurr was taken to the British Hospital and intubated.

UPSOT DOOR KNOCKING

JEFF (49.47):

Then at one o'clock in the morning, I get a kind of repeated relentless knocking on my door and I get out of bed.

(50.01) And I got a message from the captain by a crew member that I had to go and see Mauricio. So I went and saw him and he was spiking a horrendous fever.

BEEP

USME (1U /56.45):

I remember I have very a lot of body pain discomfort. Immediately I know that I have coronavirus also. And I was in my cabin in isolation immediately. That means Dr Jeff was the doctor now with the responsibilities on board.

JEFF (54.35):

Yeah I feel this huge weight now has landed on my shoulders. Not only am I my last man standing, but also it's clear that it's COVID. So I just really, you know, I mean, that's like darkest hours stuff really.

AD BREAK HERE

(6) UPSTAIRS / DOWNSTAIRS – CREW GETTING SICK

MUSIC

The Greg Mortimer cruise ship was anchored off the coast of Uruguay with 217 passengers and crew on board – many of them Australian.

Some had symptoms of COVID-19.

Around the same time the first passenger was being evacuated from the ship, cabin maid Angela Gavilan also received bad news.

SPANISH SUBREEL

ANGELA (CH1 40.37):

When the doctor told me I had fever it was a shock. /// I started to feel sick that day, with a bad headache.  The next day my body hurt.  I couldn’t get out of bed.  My roommate had a high fever. It was one sick person looking after another. I was very worried about her because her fever wouldn’t break.

The passengers and crew both faced the same threat, but they weren’t really in it together.

UPSOT BALCONY EXERCISE (CCV1 / 00.20)

It’s a thing of beauty, isn’t it?

Passengers could stave off cabin fever with exercise and imagination.

UPSOT BOTTLE BOWLS (CCV3 / 00.00):

Ok, he thinks he’s going to get it, but it’s not lawn bowls, Danny, remember that. [strike & laughter]

Life was different downstairs.

ANGELA (CH1 / 47.04):

My roommate slept on the bottom bed and I slept on the top one. These are very tiny spaces with no natural light. (47.15)

MUSIC

ANGELA (CH1 / 45.12):

The passengers’ staterooms, of course, are very luxurious, spacious, with balconies and lots of light.  For the crew, normally their rooms are below the waterline.

(47.15) It was very difficult to stay in the cabin as we didn’t know if it was day or night. (47.33)

(7) ROSE IS SICK

MUSIC

AMOS (31.28):

Tell me what happened when, when Rose got sick?

GRAHAM (31:33):

Well, it was just another day in our confined cabin /// and Rose had developed this slightly irritating cough that wouldn't go away.

I thought that I ought to let Jeff Green know.

AMOS:

The doctor.

GRAHAM:

Yes.

FX OLD LADY COUGHING

GRAHAM: (2G / 32.45)

He examined Rose, listened to her chest and was sufficiently worried to put her on some oxygen.

JEFF (1.02.42):

Because she, she had some of those co-morbidity things we were still looking at at people of risk and she was older and it just meant that things could go pear shaped more quickly.

TITLE:

3 APRIL

MUSIC

JEFF (1.03.56):

The next morning, I went in to follow up and there were more signs of concern.

(1.04.14) And at that stage, I really felt more than anyone she needed to be evacuated.

GRAHAM (2G / 35.38):

Well, they came down and dressed her in a full PPE stuff as well and she was on oxygen, an oxygen mask at that stage, which helped her cough. And I was reassured by that. Um, and so they got a wheelchair and popped her in the wheelchair. And that's the last I saw of her.

(37.35) She just disappeared.

MUSIC

ROSE TRANSFERRED (BM027)

Rose Paget was the second passenger evacuated from the Greg Mortimer.

She was also taken to the British Hospital in Montevideo.

A few days later, Graham got a phone call to say she’d been intubated – and it was just the beginning of the bad news he would receive from the hospital.

GRAHAM (2G / 40.15):

I still look back on that with dread because I can distinctly remember thinking to myself, what, what the hell do I do in this country where I don't speak a word of Spanish and I get a message from ICU that, sorry, we'd done our best, but that didn't work and she's passed away.

If Graham was going to see Rose before it was too late, he’d need a helping hand from Uruguay.

(8) TESTING

2 - 3 minutes

MUSIC

DR KARINA RANDO (2U / 00.58):

I am Dr. Karina Rando. I am the General Director of of Cordination of the Ministry of Health in Uruguay.

(26.15) We could not continue going one by one to pick up every sick patient. /// We start to be worried because the boat was big. There was a lot of people on board. /// We need to do something bigger.

MUSIC

DR KARINA RANDO (16.41):

We arranged that we were going to go to, to the boat and check every patient and decide what to do after that.

ANTONY (AZ2 / 57.18):

Watching people come on board, the doctors in full PPE, made me realize the actual severity of our situation./// It was actually quite shocking and quite spooky, It was like, Oh my goodness. And this is us. They really believe we are infected.

All the passengers and crew were tested for coronavirus.

When the results came back, they took everyone by surprise.

JEFF (1.11.13):

They said that at the moment, there was 60% positive on the boat. So this was like out of the ballpark. I mean, I I'd thought that maybe like 20%, you know.

(1.16.13) So you're on this ship and you realize that you're in a kind of COVID incubator. That you're actually on a floating Petri dish, really.

AMOS (3U / 23.29ish):

What did you think when you got the test results back?

DR KARINA RANDO (3U / 23.33):

Well, we think “Houston, we have a problem.”

NWT

Next week, the story continues…

DR KARINA RANDO:

We said, we have to do something. These people cannot stay in that boat for longer.

Uruguay mounts a rescue operation for the passengers on the Greg Mortimer

ANTONY (AZ2 / 26.35):

You know, we’re sort of like in the worst possible way, celebrities for all the wrong reasons.

But the crew feel abandoned…

DR USME (2C / 27.58):  

People. very clear they told, we want jump from the ship. I'm feeling like that I gonna die on board.

And tragically, one of those on board would never make it home.

NENA (1P / 17.41):

When he was at the hospital he called me After that, there were no more video calls from him. (18.13)

GRAHAM:

I couldn't say goodbye cause there was a bloody window there and I couldn't touch her

And up next – The Feed.

(2)  SICK CREW -  2 DOCTORS DOWN & RONNIE LORENZO

3 MINUTES

MUSIC

Infection continued to spread on the Greg Mortimer long after passengers were isolated in their rooms – the most likely cause was contaminated surfaces.

MUSIC

But passengers were at least able to relax in comfort, and got regular updates via announcements over the ship’s loudspeaker.

MUSIC

Sick crew like housekeeper Angela Gavilan were in cramped rooms below deck.

SPANISH SUBREEL

ANGELA (CH1 / 47.26):

It was very difficult to remain there as we did not know if it was daytime or night time (47.33)

(59.47) Those announcements could not be heard from our rooms, so we didn’t know what was going on. (59.56)

As crew morale sank, Filipino store keeper Ronnie Lorenzo reached out to his friends in isolation.

ANGELA (CH1 / 1.07.30):

All the crew loved him. Everyone loved him. Because he was like a father. /// For me that was a great friendship at that moment because when I was isolated (1.08.01)

(1.08.21) he would call us, he was always there for us.

(1.09.11) Then he called me to tell me that he had been isolated as well.

So he was worried. (1.09.35)

Ronnie’s condition soon worsened, worrying his friends, and his family at home in the Philippines.

Both of the ship’s doctors, Colombian Mauricio Usme and Kiwi Jeff Green – were also sick.

JEFF (13.44):

I wasn't surprised I was positive

(1.14.02) But what it did change was that I was now no longer able to go out and see people. I was actually a source of infection. I wasn't a source of help anymore.

New doctors from Uruguay had taken over the care of the passengers and crew on the ship.

Move Usme strap top right

AMOS (2C / 6.35):

Are you telling your wife, your children what is happening at this time?

DR USME (6.48):

In the moment that I was with shortness of breath… Was very difficult. You know why? Because maybe, I don't know if I, I, the possible complication and die in an intensive care unit, maybe no more opportunities to talk with my family. Was necessarily for me to tell them about my situation.

My family was very worried.

MUSIC

Behind the scenes, Aurora Expeditions and the Australian government had been trying to find a solution.

Uruguay agreed to act.

DR KARINA RANDO (4U / 2.06):

We said, we have to do something. These people cannot stay in that boat for longer.

(5.28) There was a huge cooperation between Uruguay and Australian government.

(3) PASSAGE TO AUSTRALIA

4.5 minutes

TEVE CIUDAD NEWS STING (IfC111 / 00.00)

TEVE CIUDAD IfCO70

SPANISH SUBREEL 7

NEWSREADER (00.08):

Tomorrow, Australian and New Zealander passengers who are on the Greg Mortimer will go on flights to return home tomorrow. (00.14)

TITLE:

11 April

MUSIC

This was the news that passengers had been so eager to hear – Uruguay would let them disembark in order to catch a charter flight home.

JEFF (1.22.52):

On Good Friday on the evening, they, you heard the anchor being pulled up and this amazing moment that we started sailing into Montevideo.

(1.23.33) So I didn't know what was going to happen

(1.23.10) There were stories from other countries in South America where as people pulled in, there were actually protesters lining the, you know, lining the docks.

DR KARINA RANDO (4U / 8.25):

We prepare the buses. We separate the drivers from the people. Eh, we were very clear that they couldn't have all the luggage with them because we would not be able to be helping them with the luggage.

ANTONY (AZ / 1.23.42):

We're watching the buses all line up. And there were an awful lot of ambulances. And I was a bit perplexed I have to say as to why.

(1.24.26) As I look out to my right, I'm very close to the gangway. A person in a wheelchair in full protective armour, looks like a human mummy, seated in this wheelchair is there.

And I thought, “Oh my God”, what's going on here? What is really happening?  I didn't work out who it was until we actually got into quarantine in Melbourne.

AMOS (1.28.47):

Who, who was it?

ANTONY (1.28.48):

It was my friend, Dr. Mauricio Usme.

MUSIC

DR USME (2C / 8.55):

Ronnie Lorenzo and myself, we were disembarking. First ambulance was for me and second ambulance was for him.

(12.21) Because Ronnie got a inflammation, like a pneumonia also.

Dr Usme, who’d led the efforts to protect everyone on board, was hospitalised along with store keeper Ronnie Lorenzo.

Both were fighting for their lives.

MUSIC

… Meanwhile the Australians and New Zealanders were escorted to the airport along a so-called “sanitary corridor”, to prevent the spread of any infection in Uruguay.

JEFF (1.25.00):

And then slowly this entire cavalcade, which was about a kilometre long, moved out of the protection of the dock and we started driving through the streets of Montevideo.

And then people started saying, they're cheering

MUSIC

ANTONY (1.26.10):

The people of Montevideo were lined up on the streets, waving banners, little children, you know, blowing kisses, to people that never met before.

(1.26.34) You know, we’re sort of like in the worst possible way, celebrities for all the wrong reasons. But you couldn't help, but feel the care, compassion and concern by people we've never met for what we had gone through.

MUSIC

ANTONY (1.27.52):

I think it touched everybody on the ship. A lot of passengers didn't even know about Uruguay or Montevideo and when they had said that that's where we were going, people had asked, where is it? Well now

/ it's on their bucket list of places they want to go to thank these people.

ARCHIVE PASSENGERS BOARDING PLANE

DR KARINA RANDO (4U / 21.40):

When there is a crisis there shouldn't be frontiers.

So I think that Uruguay did what we should do. Is nothing marvellous. Is just what people should do when something like this happen

AMOS:

Just being a good citizen

KARINA:

Yes, is what we would like to do is if we were in the boat, we would like somebody to take care of us.

MUSIC

JEFF (1.27.21):

On the plane,

/ it was clear that they'd also set it up as a hospital because there were some, people who could have easily gone, gone downhill very quickly.

PASSENGER VIDEO TAKEOFF?

JEFF (1.27.45):

It was the weirdest flight of my life.

PLANE LANDS (SBS NEWS 120420 / 2.03)

REPORTER:

Touchdown in Australia after a long international ordeal.

UPSOT JESZ VIDEO APPLAUSE IN CABIN ON LANDING (also on SBS story)

JEFF (1.28.33):

When we finally landed in Melbourne

(1.28.47) there are helicopters hovering from TV stations and, you know, we'd sort of become a news item.

SBS NEWS (120420 / 2.10):

With a fleet of ambulances and buses greeting them, more than a hundred passengers from the Greg Mortimer cruise ship are at last back home.

JEFF ON FARM

JEFF (1.29.01):

Yeah, it felt good to be home.

FINAL SHOT JEFF ON FARM?

(5) GRAHAM’S STORY - PART 1

MUSIC

DRONE SHOTS

Their fellow passengers had left, but Australians, Rose Paget, and Karl Schurr were in the ICU at the British Hospital in Montevideo.

Their partners, who’d tested positive for COVID, were also at the hospital in isolation.

MUSIC

GRAHAM (3G / 9.55)

Rose could have been a million miles away for all the contact I could have.

(2G / 42.47) I was sort of stuck in this room. I had a lovely window and I could see outside into the gardens and watch the birds.

AMOS (45.00):

Just must've felt so isolated.

GRAHAM (45:07):

Oh, totally. Yes.

Graham was told Rose had been placed in a coma and intubated – then that her kidneys had failed – and shortly after, that she had a significant gastrointestinal bleed

UPSOT HOSPITAL BUSTLE

AMOS (50.25):

What was the worst time for you in the hospital?

GRAHAM (50:41):

I find it hard to talk about, but one Sunday morning, the doctor who had come in each day to give me Rose's progress, uh, came in and got me to deck up in full PPE, uh, and put me in a wheelchair and took me through to ICU.

And I thought that was the end.

AMOS:

Is that why they took you to see her?

GRAHAM (52:43):

Yeah, I'm quite sure that. Um, they felt that I was, I had that to be able to see her before I saw her in the, in the, the, uh, undertaker's parlor. In a box.

GRAHAM (53:25):

And I couldn't say goodbye cause there was a bloody window there and I couldn't touch her, I couldn’t….

(4) PAYING THE ULTIMATE PRICE- RONNIE’S DEATH

2.5 MINUTES

MUSIC

Most of the passengers had gone home, but for the ship’s crew, the nightmare was far from over.

DR USME (1C / 22.12):

Remember that the passengers be disembarking, April 10

(22.23) But all the crew members still on board, and nobody told us nothing. And no intention for disembark.

SPANISH SUBREEL

ANGELA (1.33.34):

I felt bad, I felt physically bad, my mood was bad, I could not sleep. (1.33.52)

Angela didn’t even know that her friend, Ronnie Lorenzo had been taken to hospital.

SPANISH SUBREEL

ANGELA (1.10.21):

Suddenly, one day he did not call me. (1.10.26)

(1.10.32) The following day I called him and he did not pick up.

GVs RONNIE’S HOME TOWN

WS FAMILY HOME

At home in the Philippines, Ronnie’s anxious wife Nena spoke to her husband in hospital.

TAGALOG SUBREEL

NENA (1P / 17.41):

When he was at the hospital he called me.  He was already wearing something like a mask and he took it off just so he could talk to us and tell us not to worry but I could feel that he was already having a hard time. After that, there were no more video calls from him. (18.13)

DR USME (2C / 9.03):

The intensive care unit, his bed was close to my bed. I can, I can see him for the window. And I told him, Ronnie, don't worry. Like, you know, everything is going to be fine.  

TITLE:

15 April

DR USME LEAVES HOSPITAL – FARWELLED BY STAFF

Dr Mauricio Usme got a hero’s send-off when he was discharged from hospital.

He went straight back to the Greg Mortimer.

Ronnie wasn’t with him.

TAGALOG SUBREEL

NENA (1P / 18.52):

On April 17... the bad news came.  Ronnie didn’t make it. (19.20)

Photo of Ronnie

SAD MUSIC

USME (23.10):

The announcement, uh, from the Captain by the speakers was maybe 3:30 PM. Was disaster.

(23.41) Nobody talk for maybe 30 minutes.  People was crying.

ANGELA (1.29.00):

It was a big blow. It was in that moment when the captain announced it, it was so hard for me because he was a very close friend.  It was really hard. To this day, when I think of him, I cry.

UPSOT NENA AND FAMILY

52 year-old Ronnie Lorenzo had been on the Greg Mortimer since its maiden voyage last year.

Like so many of the crew, his widow always thought their last trip was too risky.

TAGALOG SUBREEL

NENA (1P / 35.13):

That’s what I had been saying to him… Why go when there’s a pandemic?  But he also told me that there’s nothing they can do but follow orders, I told him that they should have stopped. (35.31)

Bring him up over Nena

DR USME (2C / 19.43):

In the moment that Ronnie died was the breakpoint.  People was very sad.  People was disappointed for the company.  Also, people was feeling that the next person with complication is everyone. You know, you know to the people was, was feeling that Ronnie today died, but maybe tomorrow I gonna die also, you know.

(6) MUTINY ON THE GREG MORTIMER

3.5 MINUTES

MUSIC

SPANISH SUBREEL

ANGELA (1.36.24):

Ronnie’s death triggered all this discomfort and feelings of anger.

Passengers went home on a private plane and we as crew were kept locked down. We were still infected and nothing happened.

MUSIC

Members of the crew also say they were given food that had expired, and their access to the internet was restricted.

They were now more desperate than ever to get off the ship.

MUSIC

But Cruise Management International, a Miami-based company responsible for the crew and the ship’s operation, wanted them to sail to the Canary Islands when they were COVID-free.

With infection still spreading on board, the crew were fearful of a second, ill-fated voyage.

ANGELA (1.47.37): 

Just like Ronnie had died, anyone could get worse during the trip and could die.

(1.45.14) We were asking to be repatriated to our countries. (1.45.21)

NEW WOB with full stop

ANGELA (1.33.52:)

There were lots of colleagues who were trying to organise a sort of revolution.

They were talking about many things, people who wanted to set the boat on fire, people who wanted to trigger the fire alarm bells to attract other boats and get the city’s attention.

SPANISH SUBREEL 7

HOST ON TV SHOW (???):

Can you imagine being in that situation, away from home, away from your family and with communication problems? (1.10)

In the end, some of the crew decided to go public with their complaints.

SPANISH SUBREEL 7

HOST ON TV SHOW (1.10):

Well, we chatted with Carolina and this is part of her testimony (1.13)

SPANISH SUBREEL 7

CAROLINA ON TV (2.57):

How long do we have to wait till they take action? Please, take us out of here.

DR USME (2C / 27.58):

People. very clear they told, we want jump from the ship. I'm feeling like that I gonna die on board.

TITLE:

12 May

MUSIC

Eventually, with support from the public and sympathetic trade unions, the crew’s prayers were answered.

A month after the passengers had gone home, Uruguay agreed to let the crew disembark.

SPANISH SUBREEL

ANGELA PTC IN HAZMAT SUIT:

I’m here on the day of our farewell from the Greg Mortimer, here with my hazmat suit, I’m ready to go to the hotel, to do hotel quarantine. I’m waiting to be negative so I can go home.

MUSIC

GM docks

DR USME (2C / 32.15):

In the moment that we had the confirmation official /// everyone was very happy. The stress was immediately cooled down. People was happy calling the families

Everybody was feeling that we are safe. You know, we are safe. We are safe because ashore is different than if you are alone in the ocean.

“CREW ARRIVE HOTEL” / 6.19 onwards – in BROADCASTER TELEVISION NACIONAL URUGUAY folder

CREW ARRIVE HOTEL – APPLAUSE

With so many international borders closed, it would be many weeks before everyone was finally repatriated.

TELEMUNDO 23 MAY story

FOOTAGE GREG MORTIMER SETTING SAIL

Mix

We approached Cruise Management International for comment, but they turned down repeated interview requests.

(MORE PAUSE)

The Greg Mortimer set sail for the Canary Islands with a skeleton crew… where it awaits its next cruise in 2021.

But more than two months after setting off on the holiday of a lifetime, 4 Australian passengers were still in hospital, far from home.

AD BREAK HERE

(7) GRAHAM’S STORY – PART 2

2 MINUTES

Montevideo scenic drone

MUSIC

The last Australian passengers from the Greg Mortimer were still recovering from COVID-19 in Uruguay.

Sydney physiotherapist Karl Schurr spent 3 weeks in ICU, but it was another 6 weeks before he was well enough to return home.

Rose Paget eventually stepped back from the brink of death, and slowly emerged from her long coma.

In total, Graham and Rose spent almost three months in the British hospital.

GP23

GRAHAM (3G / 13.04):

It was a very, very gradual process. When I first was allowed round to see her in her ICU room, I had to gown and glove and mask and everything, and she was basically comatose. If I spoke her name, she could just open her eyes, uh, and obviously recognized me, uh, with a bit of a smile.

GP10

GP11

MUSIC

GP14 or 15

GRAHAM (3G / 18.11):

There was a big send off from ICU.  The whole staff gathering around Rose’s stretcher. Wishing us Godspeed.

GP17

GP16

When her condition had stabilised enough for her to travel, her insurer provided a medically-equipped private jet for the journey home.

ROSE’S PLANE APPROACHES RUNWAY

AMOS (3G / 19.50):

What was it like when you touched down?

GRAHAM (19.58):

Totally overwhelming, I remember I could see out of my window Fremantle port with ships, boats coming in and out.

FAMILY IN VIDEO YELLING AS PLANE TOUCHES DOWN

GRAHAM (3G / 20.23):

For me, it was emotionally overwhelming. I was able to // shed tears on the tarmac at Perth airport.

8) ROSE’S RECOVERY

2.5 MINUTES

MUSIC

AMOS (4G / 00.01):

Hello!  Rose!

ROSE:

Hi. Hi.

GRAHAM:

Hi Amos.  Good to see you.

ROSE DOING PHYSICAL THERAPY

After a six-month ordeal, she’s alive and… if not well, then at least improving.

UPSOT PHYSICAL THERAPY

Rose is dealing with the long-term effects of COVID-19 and is still piecing together what happened to her in Uruguay.

ROSE (4G / 7.09):

I remember arriving in a little foyer at the front of the hospital going inside

and I don’t remember much after that, to be perfectly honest.

(8.15) I've had to rely on Graham, my husband so, so much because, um, you know, he, he's, he's, my memory card (laughs).

(11.00) I still, still sometimes feel as if i'm in a dream or a nightmare, you know, sometimes, but, um, certainly the worst is behind me. I'm sure.

ROSE DOING PHYSICAL THERAPY

GRAHAM (2G / 55.06):

A couple of weeks ago when she was starting her ability to stand up, uh, I was able to give her a hug and that was overwhelming as well, because this was the first time since we'd been on the boat that, I'd been able to give her a hug. And, um, I started crying then too,

ROSE DOING PHYSICAL THERAPY

Several passengers and crew are still dealing with the lingering effects of COVID-19.

Rose’s doctors don’t yet know whether there’s been any long-term damage to her kidneys.

Let’s use some photos of them in Antarctica – I’ll find

I think the shots are too crazy. No zodiacs. Keep the boat going through ice, maybe getty icebergs... then maybe pensive shot of woman reading book?

MUSIC

AMOS (3G / 39.45):

How do you feel looking back on the decision to go ahead with the cruise?

GRAHAM (3G / 44.21) A lot of my colleagues from Denmark were very angry at that decision. /

 I am still grateful for the opportunity, even though it was curtailed, but for Rose, I think she will deserve some compensation, um, how that will come about I don't know yet we haven't decided.

10) CONCLUSION

2.5 MINUTES

Aurora Expeditions has offered passengers a two-thirds refund or a ticket on any other cruise.

Some have already signed up for a special trip next year which will embark from Montevideo.

But Antony Philip doesn’t feel ready to face another cruise.

ANTONY (AZ2 / 1.22.45):

I got on healthy and I left retrospectively very damaged.

(AZ3 / 8.12) I felt my holiday, my selfish desire, as I rationalized it, has now cost a gentleman his life.

(AZ3 / 11.38) This is a gentleman in his early fifties with a family. How did this go so horribly wrong?

(AZ3 / 41.23) I can only say that they put profits before people. It was a money-making decision.

MUSIC

ANGELA TAKING PILLS / LOOKING OUT WINDOW

Angela Gavilan says she’s also been scarred by her experience.

SPANISH SUBREEL

CHANGE WOB - anyone

ANGELA (2.04.00):

I’m taking antidepressants and sleeping pills. (2.04.06)

(2.11.35) It was really hard. It was even harder to lose someone who was our workmate. That’s the hardest thing. And honestly knowing it could have been prevented by putting human lives before money. (2.12.01) This is the first time I’ve talked about this with anyone. (2.12.07)

In a statement, Aurora Expeditions told Dateline

“The decision to set sail was made following wide consultation and based on the information available to us at the time.

Our number one priority has always been the health and wellbeing of our passengers, staff and crew.”

UPSOT RONNIE’S FAMILY WITH GRANDSON

Ronnie Lorenzo became a grandfather while he was working on the Greg Mortimer.

TAGALOG SUBREEL

NENA (2P / 26.30):

Now he can’t see his grandchild.  They’d see each other by video call.

All our dreams are gone. (26.45)

Ronnie was the breadwinner for his extended family – he was supporting a brother with leukemia and a son with special needs.

But what his family really misses is his kindness.

TAGALOG SUBREEL

NENA (2P / 25.20):

When he was on a trip, whenever he saw something that might be nice for me, he would call me.  “Ma, there’s a perfume here that smells really good. It suits you,” Even for the kids. He spoiled me. (25.43)

He would always put us first. Those are the things that I really miss about him. (26.26)

Medellin drone

MUSIC

Back home in Colombia, where the pandemic has killed more than 27,000 people, Dr Mauricio Usme is putting his experience on the Greg Mortimer to good use.

UPSOT DR USME (MU28):

Hello Amos, how you doing my friend?

Working in a hospital ICU for COVID patients in Medellin, Dr Usme seems strangely energised by his ordeal.

DR USME INTRO PATIENT MU29

DR USME (2C / 59.26):

I always telling to my patient, my friend, I was in the bed like you. I can feel that you are feeling, don't worry. You're going to be fine.

UPSOT DR USME INTRO COLLEAGUE OR PATIENT 2 (MU30-31)

DR USME (58.20):

I'm so happy and so happy because God gave me the opportunity to feel in my body, in my mind, in my soul what's mean to be a patient with COVID. And now I can to pay back, pay back to the life, the opportunity. I'm so happy to work in, in, in this unit. I'm so happy.