Australian Faces Charges Over Cruise Ship Death

The prosecutor also recommended two other men who shared the cabin be charged with perverting the course of justice.

An Australian prosecutor has recommended manslaughter charges against a man over the death of a naked woman from an overdose of a "date rape" drug in his ship cabin during a South Pacific cruise.

The prosecutor also recommended two other men who shared the cabin be charged with perverting the course of justice.

Mother-of-three Dianne Brimble, 42, died in 2002 aboard the P&O liner Pacific Sky after ingesting a toxic cocktail of alcohol and the illicit date rape drug known as fantasy.

During a coronial inquest, eight men of interest were identified -- four of whom shared the cabin where Brimble died.

The New South Wales state director of prosecutions said on Thursday that Mark Wilhelm should face a manslaughter charge and that his travelling companions, Letterio Silvestri and Ryan Kuchel, should be charged with perverting the course of justice.

Police will now decide whether to lay charges, but normally adhere to the prosecutor's recommendations.

Brimble saved for two years to take a South Pacific cruise with her then 12-year-old daughter, her sister and friends.

But within hours of boarding the ship she lay naked and dead in the cabin of four men whose main concern, according to evidence at her inquest in 2007, was that the death of a woman one described as a "dog" had ruined their holiday.

The inquest heard that Brimble had sex with a man in his cabin after she was given the drug.

When a naked Brimble lost control of her bodily functions and began frothing at the mouth she was put in a shower and dressed before medical help was called.

The inquest heard that Brimble died of an overdose of gamma hydroxybutyrate, a "date rape" drug also known as fantasy, mixed with a high blood alcohol level.

The inquest heard from passengers that a group of men were "cruising for sex". A night shift manager on the Pacific Sky said the incidents of nudity and public sex on board P&O cruise ships happened up to 20 times a night.

P&O has since said that unruly passengers would be kicked off future cruises.