The daughter of an octogenarian passenger found dead on a remote island in Australia after she was left behind by a luxury cruise ship has condemned the operator’s “failure of care”, as authorities launched an investigation into the incident.

Suzanne Rees was on the second day of a 60-day, A$80,000 (US$52,700) round-Australia cruise when she disembarked from the Coral Adventurer at Lizard Island on the Great Barrier Reef on Saturday morning, The Guardian newspaper reported.

Rees, 80, had intended to hike with other passengers to the island’s Cook’s Look mountain, a challenging 4km (2.5-mile) trail.

But scorching temperatures forced the Sydney resident to abandon her trek and she headed back down alone, according to broadcaster 7 News.

The woman never made it to the ship, which sailed away without her in the afternoon, and only became aware of the missing guest at night.

The cruise liner later contacted the emergency hotline and returned to Lizard Island on Sunday morning, data from ship tracker Vessel Finder showed.