Story By: John Feng, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Asia Wire Report

A second victim has died on board a luxury cruise ship less than a week after a passenger succumbed to a sudden heart attack and his body was kept in a freezer for four days.

The passenger surnamed Wang, 70, succumbed to an as yet undisclosed illness less than six hours after SuperStar Aquarius – operated by Hong Kong-based Star Cruises – left the Port of Keelung in North Taiwan at 5pm local time on 5th April.

Wang, who was travelling with his wife and son, reportedly required medical treatment at 3:55am the following morning but died shortly after.

Pictures Credit: AsiaWire/Ting Shu-hui

His body was kept in a freezer ‘ship morgue’ as the 1,500 or so passengers left on board continued their round-trip holiday to the Japanese island of Yonaguni.

Star Cruises said in a statement its staff had immediately made contact with Taiwan’s Coast Guard Administration regarding the incident, with the passenger’s body then handed over to relevant authorities once the ship returned to port at 11am on 7th April.

The cruise line operator offered its condolences and said it would make no further statements while an investigation continues into Wang’s sudden death.

The incident comes just six days after Taiwanese passenger Wu Chih-hung, 43, succumbed to a heart attack on the same ship just hours into his holiday.

After being declared dead at 2am on 1st April, his body was kept in the freezer morgue and the entire ship’s passengers were left none the wiser as they visited the Japanese cities of Miyakojima and Naha before returning to the port of Keelung on the fourth day.

While members of the public have been sympathetic towards the operator, social media users in Taiwan have dubbed SuperStar Aquarius “’cursed’ and a ‘ghost ship’.

‘KuoChong Fang’ wrote: “They’re going to have to change the ship’s name to ‘Cursed’ if this carries on.”

‘Jim Huang’ added: “Ship of death”.