TRAGEDY AT SEA

Cruise Ship Passenger Dies After Suffering Horror Injury

He was on the cruise for his son’s wedding.

A Minnesota pastor has died weeks after suffering a catastrophic spinal injury aboard a cruise ship in Italy while traveling for his son’s wedding. Stephen Junker, 58, fell into a pool aboard Princess Cruises’ Sun Princess on August 16 and was found “face down and unresponsive,” according to his family. He was pulled from the water and taken to a hospital in Naples by the Italian Coast Guard. Doctors diagnosed Junker with severe spinal cord compression at the C3-C4 level and performed emergency surgery the following day. His family was later told he would be quadriplegic if he survived. He also developed a drug-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infection in his lungs, which his family believed was linked to the near-drowning. Junker was eventually transferred to the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, where he died on September 4. “He was surrounded by his wife, children, parents, and friends,” his family said on a GoFundMe page. “Further diagnostic testing had revealed injuries that were not treatable.” Junker was pastor of Chippewa Lutheran Church in Brandon, Minnesota, and is survived by his wife, children, and grandson.