PHOTO: Rumors that three crew members from the Celebrity Constellation were on MH17 are not true, says the parent company. (Courtesy of Celebrity Cruises)
Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. says no Celebrity Cruises crew members were aboard the Malaysian Airlines flight shot down over Ukraine, despite reports circulating online.
Rumors abounded online over the weekend that three Indonesia crew members were on the doomed flight, with one report on a Cruise Critic bulletin board saying they were returning home after a contract on the Constellation. The person who posted it attributed it to a relative who is a former Celebrity employee who heard it from past colleagues on Facebook.
However, RCCL spokesman Rob Zeiger said the line has no reports that employees died on MH17. "At this time, we are unaware of any Celebrity employees on the flight," he wrote in an email to TravelPulse over the weekend.
The initial reports surfaced on Saturday. After hearing that the story was inaccurate, Cruise Critic removed the thread, although another one was started on Sunday. The host kept the thread visible, but closed it to additional comments.
John Heald, senior cruise director for Carnival Cruise Lines, relayed the report Saturday in a compassionate post on Facebook, but corrected it and apologized on Sunday.
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