Still No Answers to Phuket Voyage That
Ended With Aussie Lost at Sea
By Alan Morison - Phuket Wan Tourism
News
Sunday, April 1, 2012
PHUKET: Authorities in Australia and Thailand continue to ask
questions about the mysterious disappearance of an Australian
yachtswoman who is said to have fallen overboard on a voyage between
Langkawi and Phuket.
Officials in Thailand have been especially puzzled that the body of
Carmel Brookes has not washed up along the coast, and frustrated that
the circumstances surrounding her disappearance have never been fully
reported to them.
Ms Brookes, 60, was last seen aboard the yacht Moondancer 2 as she
and her boyfriend, prominent marine biologist Dr Gerry Goeden, headed
for Phuket.
What experienced yachties cannot understand is why the pair were sharing
watches and sailing to Phuket as if they were in a race when most
experienced yachtspeople anchor for the night.
According to an article published in Australia today, Dr Goeden
explained to Ms Brookes' anxious brother, Bill Heang, that his partner
had been on the night watch as the pair sailed Moondancer 2 towards
Phuket.
He said he got up to relieve her at 1.30am, off the coast of the Thai
province of Trang, found her gone and set off the distress beacon.
''He said two bean bags that had been in the life raft were missing,
plus the boat hook, so he believed she had fallen in trying to retrieve
them,'' Mr Heang told the 'Courier-Mail' newspaper.
''They were red bean bags and they float but they haven't been found.''
Ms Brookes's body has not washed ashore. Local Thai police and rescue
officials along the coast of Trang and the neighboring province of Krabi
say this is contrary to experience with previous tragedies at sea and
currents in the region where Ms Brookes was lost.
Australian consular officials later called Mr Heang to say they could do
nothing more to help because no official report had been made to Thai
police about his sister's disappearance, the newspaper reports.
Friends of Ms Brookes have told Phuketwan they accepted Dr
Goeden's version of events. But the publication of a new article today
after Ms Brookes' disappeared in early February indicates not everyone
is at ease.
The Courier-Mail' reported that Lisa Brookes, Ms Brookes' stepdaughter,
said the family knew it was unlikely she would be found.
"He (Dr Goeden) rang me and said 'Lisa, I have some bad news to tell
you'," she said. "He started crying and said, 'I've lost Carmel
overboard'. He gave me a number, said he was out of credit and hung up."
Lisa said she tried to call him back but the phone number did not work.
The Courier-Mail was unable to contact Dr Goeden, who is believed to
still be at sea.
According to the Courier-Mail, Dr Goeden's first wife, Ellen Goeden,
died in January 1984, in what friends described as a "tragic accident".
A newspaper report at the time said a 37-year-old woman was walking in
the Barron Gorge, north of Cairns, when she slipped while crossing a
waterfall, falling 10 metres to her death.
A Missing Persons Unit Detective in Brisbane, Senior Sergeant Damien
Powell, confirmed they were looking into Ms Brookes' disappearance.
"We are assisting the Department of Foreign Affairs and Interpol in
their investigations," he told the newspaper.
Sea mystery as Australian woman
goes missing off Thailand's Phuket
Woman vanished from a yacht in the middle of the night
She and her boyfriend sailing from Langkawi to Phuket
Joint international operation examines her disappearance
AN INTERNATIONAL investigation is underway after a Queensland
woman disappeared from a yacht in the middle of the night off the coast
of Thailand.
Carmel Brookes, 60, was last seen aboard her yacht, the 14m Moondancer
2, as she and her boyfriend, prominent marine biologist Dr Gerry Goeden,
sailed from Langkawi to Phuket.
Dr Goeden told police he got up to take over the night watch from Ms
Brookes about 1.30am and found her gone.
The former dancer and government worker's Brisbane-based brother, Bill
Heang, said his sister had been excited about the trip after planning it for
some time.
"I got a call from Air Sea Rescue on the Thursday morning about 6am
saying they had picked up a distress beacon for Moondancer 2," he said.
"From that day on we've been trying to find out what happened."
Mr Heang said five days later he was put in contact with Dr Goeden, who
was still at sea, through Australian consular officials.
Dr Goeden
explained Ms Brookes had been on the night watch as they sailed off the
coast of Trang, between Langkawi Island and Phuket.
He said he got up to relieve her at 1.30am, found her gone and set off
the distress beacon.
"He said two bean bags that had been in the life raft were missing,
plus the boat hook, so he believed she had fallen in trying to retrieve
them," Mr Heang said.
"They were red bean bags and they float but they haven't been found.
Several days later, Australian consular officials called Mr Heang to
say they could do nothing more to help because no official report had been
made to Thai police about his sister's disappearance.
So he reported her missing himself to police in Brisbane.
Lisa Brookes, Ms Brookes' stepdaughter, said the family knew it was
unlikely she would be found.
"He (Dr Goeden) rang me and said 'Lisa, I have some bad news to tell
you'," she said. "He started crying and said, 'I've lost Carmel overboard'.
He gave me a number, said he was out of credit and hung up."
Lisa said she tried to call him back but the phone number did not
work.
The Courier-Mail was unable to contact Dr Goeden, who is
believed to still be at sea.
Lisa said her stepmother, who once toured with the production Cats,
was incredibly fit.
Whitsunday Escape owner Trevor Rees, a former business partner of Dr
Goeden and Ms Brookes, said she was a very experienced sailor.
"She was a very cautious person," he said.
In an email from Dr Goeden to Ms Brookes' ex-husband, he apologised
for losing her at sea.
"I'm very sorry," he wrote.
"She was a great girl and I know I'll miss her. All I can say is that
I know she loved being here and that the last few weeks were wonderful for
her."
Missing Persons Unit Detective Senior Sergeant Damien Powell confirmed
they were looking into Ms Brookes' disappearance. "We are assisting the
Department of Foreign Affairs and Interpol in their investigations," he
said.
Dr Goeden's first wife, Ellen Goeden, died in January 1984, in what
friends described as a "tragic accident". A newspaper report at the time
said a 37-year-old woman was walking in the Barron Gorge, north of Cairns,
when she slipped while crossing a waterfall, falling 10m to her death.
Qld woman vanishes from yacht off Thailand
Updated
April 03, 2012 11:27:14 - ABC
The Department of Foreign Affairs is working with Interpol
to investigate the disappearance of a Queensland woman from a yacht off the
coast of Thailand.
Carmel Brookes, 60, vanished in early February while sailing between
Malaysia and Thailand with her partner, marine biologist Dr Gerry Goeden.
It has been reported she fell overboard in the middle of the night.
Her family notified police in Brisbane on February 15.
Consular officials are helping the family.
Ms Brookes was the part owner of a charter boat business in the
Whitsundays.
Her former business partner Trevor Rees says Ms Brookes and Dr Goeden were
both experienced sailors.
"She had done a lot of sailing with him [and] certainly was comfortable on
the water and a very safe sort of careful person," he said.
Queensland police are assisting officials from Foreign Affairs.
Fears held for lost woman
Adam Davies |
4th April 2012 5:32 AM - Toowoomba Chronicle
Life-long friends (from left) Maureen Foster and Michelle Black
along with Carmel Brookes’ brother Bill Heang and step-daughter Lisa
Brooks at a memorial service in the Whitsundays.
Photo -
Aimee Vinci / Whitsunday Times
TOOWOOMBA woman Michelle Black knows in her heart that her friend
of 23 years Carmel Brookes is dead.
Ms Brookes, 60, was travelling from Langkawi, Malaysia, to Phuket,
Thailand, on a yacht with her boyfriend Dr Gerry Goeden, a prominent marine
biologist, when she went missing on the night of February 2.
According to Dr Goeden, Ms Brookes fell overboard in the middle of the
night.
How Ms Brookes came to fall overboard in calm seas still remains unclear.
Ms Brookes has not been seen or heard from since.
A heartbroken Ms Black said there were too many questions from that night
that remained unanswered.
"One of her greatest fears was falling overboard as she was not a very
strong swimmer," Ms Black said.
"She was an experienced yachtswoman, but I would not say she was a
professional.
"One thing that is still very odd is the fact that she was sailing the
yacht in the middle of the night by herself," she said.
The pair first met in Jakarta, Indonesia, 23 years ago and have remained
close friends ever since.
On a number of occasions over the course of their friendship, Ms Brookes
travelled to Toowoomba to visit Ms Black and other friends she had in the
Garden City.
Before embarking on the fateful trip, Ms Brookes spent a week in
Toowoomba with Ms Black.
During this time, Ms Brookes told Ms Black of her "reservations" about
the forthcoming trip.
"She was very fond of Toowoomba. She really loved it here," Ms Black
said.
"After this length of time, I do not believe she is still alive.
"I held out for a long time, but too much time has passed now.
"I know in my heart she is dead.
"If she was alive she certainly would have tried to make contact with her
family or friends," she said.
Thai authorities have called off the search for Ms Brookes.
Her body has yet to be located.
Boyfriend of missing woman 'emailed
her ex'
07:30 AEDT Mon Apr 2 2012
The boyfriend of a Queensland
woman who mysteriously disappeared at sea last month has reportedly written
an email to her ex-husband, apologising for losing her.
Carmel Brookes, 60, was travelling from Langkawi to
Phuket on a yacht with her boyfriend Dr Gerry Goeden, a prominent marine
biologist, when she went missing on the night of February 2.
Dr Goeden said he had been sleeping while Ms Brookes was on night
watch, and when he got up at 1.30am to change shifts with her she was gone,
the Courier Mail reports.
Ms Brookes' brother Bill Heang said he received a call from Air Sea
Rescue the following morning at about 6am saying they had picked up a
distress beacon on the boat.
"From that day on we've been trying to find out what happened," Mr
Heang said.
Mr Heang said Dr Goeden believed she may have fallen into the water
while trying to retrieve two bean bags.
"He said two bean bags that had been in the life raft were missing,
plus the boat hook," Mr Heang said.
"They were red bean bags and they float but they haven't been found."
Dr Goeden, who is believed to still be at sea, has reportedly written
an email to Ms Brookes' ex-husband.
"I'm very sorry," he wrote in the email.
"She was a great girl and I know I'll miss her. All I can say is that
I know she loved being here and that the last few weeks were wonderful for
her."
Missing Persons Unit Detective Senior Sergeant Damien Powell said the matter
was being investigated.
"We are assisting the Department of Foreign Affairs and Interpol in
their investigations," he said.
Dr Goeden's first wife, Ellen Goeden, died in
1984 after slipping while crossing a waterfall in the Barron Gorge, north of
Cairns.
‘Death yacht’ for sale but mystery lingers
by caroline Overington, The Australian AUGUST 17, 2019
Moondancer II — the yacht on which the former Department of Foreign
Affairs and Trade official Carmel Brookes was sailing when she mysteriously
went missing — has turned up on a secondhand-boat website.
The sloop is for sale for $US67,000 ($98,000), a price described as “very low …
because it’s a deceased estate”.
Brookes, 60, was sailing in Thai waters when she went missing in February 2012.
Her defacto husband, Gerry Goeden, was sleeping downstairs while she had the
watch. When he woke, she was gone.
The Australian Federal Police investigated, in part because Mr Goeden’s first
wife, Ellen Goeden, also died prematurely, falling from a cliff in Cairns in
1984 while the two of them were walking.
A coroner had previously ruled that Ellen Goeden’s death was not suspicious.
Dr Goeden, a marine ecology expert who has worked for the Andaman Resort in
Langkawi, has always denied wrongdoing in the deaths of both wives, saying the
terrible coincidences had left him shattered. No evidence links him to any
crime, and no charges were ever laid.
Brookes, 60, was godmother to Hollywood actress Yvonne Strahovski.
Strahovski’s parents were desperate to come to Australia from Poland in the
mid-1970s.
Brookes, who then worked at DFAT, assisted them. They were so grateful they made
her godmother to Yvonne, who has since won a leading part in the television
series The
Handmaid’s Tale.
Brookes’s assets, including million-dollar land holdings in Queensland, have not
been able to be sold or distributed before now because her family members and
friends from DFAT have fought to prevent her from being declared dead.
Brookes’s body has never been found. A beanbag was missing from the Moondancer
II, and Dr Goeden has previously told friends that perhaps it fell overboard
and his wife fell as she reached to get it.
A death certificate can be issued and her assets sold now that Brookes has been
missing for seven years.
Besides the Moondancer II, Brookes owned land in the Whitsundays and Airlie
Beach, and had an apartment in Brisbane. She had no children.
Dr Goeden is her next-of-kin.
The yacht, described in the ad as having four cabins, is for sale on an “as is,
where is” basis.
It was launched in Brisbane in 2000, and is described as a “Goeden-built”
sailing sloop, good for 10 overnight passengers.
“Moondancer II is a deceased estate, hence the very low asking price,” the ad
says.
The engine was serviced in March. The boat is described as having “stylish
interior features”.
Brookes’s lifelong friend Michelle Black said she had never recovered from the
sudden death of her friend.
“It’s been seven years. I know Yvonne would not have been born in Australia if
not for Carmel, who thought the world of her,” she said.
The Weekend Australian contacted Dr Goeden for comment but he had not
replied at the time of going to press.
