A woman has died after falling off a cruise ship in the Channel Islands, according to reports.
Officials said the victim died while the ship was en route from Portugal to Britain.
Shortly after midnight on Saturday, the French coastguard received a distress call from the 18-story ship MSC Virtuosa, where a woman in her 20s had fallen into the water north of Les Casquet Rocks, west of Alderney, the Guardian reported.
The French Navy’s H160 helicopter, based in Maupertus, Normandy, was scrambled for the rescue mission, the newspaper said.
“Channel Islands Air Search Team was called to action early this morning to assist Jobourg MRCC in the search for a person who was found overboard from the cruise ship MSC Virtuosa north of Les Casquets,” Channel Islands Air Search Team volunteers said. the group said in a Facebook post. . “Lions Pride departed Guernsey at 2:00am and set course for the search area.”
The media said the group stood up after the fateful woman was pulled from the water at around 3 a.m. local time.
A Navy helicopter took the woman to a rescue center in Tourlaville, where she was pronounced dead.
Passengers were asked to pray for their fellow cruise passenger, who identified himself only as “Neil,” the BBC reported.
“I went to see it with many other passengers,” he said.
“About 30 minutes later, the cruise director informed us that our arrival in Southampton would be delayed as they were searching for the missing passenger,” said the upset passenger.
“We are deeply saddened by this tragic event. Our thoughts are with the family at this difficult time,” the ship’s owner, MSC Cruises, told the Guardian in a statement. “Out of respect for their privacy, we will not provide further details.”
