An elderly Australian man who lost his wife while on the South African leg of an international cruise, flew out of Port Elizabeth on Saturday bound for Sydney.
Norman and Mary Wagschall had been celebrating their 60th anniversary on the luxury passenger liner Queen Mary 2, when the 81-year-old died while she had an afternoon nap in her cabin of the ship which was docked in the Port Elizabeth harbour.
A post mortem will confirm the exact cause of death but it's presumed that she had died of natural causes.
Her 86-year-old husband Norman stayed behind in Port Elizabeth and was taken under the wing of Warrant Officer, Lorraine Olivier, of the Humewood police.
She assisted him to get accommodation and according to police spokesperson, Captain Sandra Janse Van Rensburg, Olivier even assisted Wagschall with the arrangements to have his wife's body flown back to Australia this coming week.
Janse Van Rensburg said Wagschall had told them that the couple had been on a cruise to celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary. He also turned 86 while on the luxury ship.
The couple had planned to disembark in the UK and then make their way back to Hong Kong to continue their holiday.
An inquest docket has been opened as a matter of procedure.
