A woman in her 20s has died after falling from the MSC Virtuosa cruise ship into the English Channel. According to a report by BBC, a distress signal was issued by the 18-deck cruise ship, after the woman went overboard near Les Casquets rocks, west of Alderney, around midnight on Saturday. One passenger told the BBC an alarm rang three times to signal a person had gone overboard.

A plane from Channel Islands Air Search was dispatched from Guernsey to scour the area, while lifeboat crews from both Alderney and France rushed to the scene. Additionally, a French helicopter crew based near Cherbourg joined the search and rescue operation, working in tandem to locate and retrieve the woman. 

Though rescuers retrieved her from the water and rushed her to the hospital, she was pronounced dead despite medical efforts. The woman’s identity and nationality have not been publicly released.

A French coastguard spokesman said, ”The H160 helicopter finds the person in its search area and hoists them out. The helicopter lands at the Tourlaville rescue centre where a medical team declared the dead.”

The ship’s owner MSC Cruises said: “A guest on board MSC Virtuosa went overboard on 12 October, while the ship was sailing to Southampton.  The body was later recovered with the involvement of the authorities. We are deeply saddened by this tragic event, and our thoughts are with the family during this difficult time. Out of respect for their privacy, we will not be providing further details.”

British and French police are now probing the woman’s death.

The MSC Virtuosa, a Maltese-flagged cruise ship, is 331 meters (1,086 feet) in length and 43 meters (141 feet) in width. With 19 decks, this mega-ship can accommodate up to 6,334 passengers and 1,704 crew members. Currently, it is docked at Southampton, having arrived at 08:00 from Cartagena Port in Spain, according to MarineTraffic.
 

A tech entrepreneur from Utah finds himself coming to terms with the ramifications of a decision he made back in 2008. Chris Willson purchased a historic cruise ship after discovering a listing on Craigslist. This purchase led to a 15-year journey of passionate restoration, transforming the 293-foot vessel into a treasure that boasted 85 cabins, a swimming pool, and a theatre. However, despite his efforts and dreams of establishing a museum aboard, Mr Willson was forced to sell the ship in October 2023 – a decision that continues to “haunt” him.

The ship, originally named Wappen von Hamburg and built in 1955, had a storied history as one of Germany’s first post-World War II passenger liners. Feeling inspired, Mr Willson bought the vessel and ‘sank’ his life savings – over $1 million – into the project.

Renaming it Aurora, he relocated it to California and moved aboard with his partner, Jin Li. He dedicated years to its renovation. With the help of volunteers, he made substantial progress, restoring 10 major areas of the ship. Mr Willson’s goal was to turn Aurora into a floating museum.

However, Chris Willson’s dream of transforming the vessel into a museum met with resistance from locals. His restoration project did not sit right with residents, particularly after another nearby ship, the Canadian minesweeper HMCS Chaleur, sank in 2021.

In January 2023, a military tugboat docked near the Aurora also sank, sparking a pollution issue that attracted the attention of local authorities. With the pressure mounting, Mr Willson and his partner realised they could no longer sustain the project.

“Maybe Aurora wasn’t in the right place,” Ms Li told CNN. “Maybe if Aurora was in a different state, or a different country it would have been different.”

In late 2023, Mr Willson made the difficult decision to sell the ship. While he believed the buyer shared his passion for preserving the Aurora, disaster struck just seven months later.

In May 2024, the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office reported that the Aurora was sinking. A hole in the vessel caused it to take on water, leaking diesel fuel and oil into the Delta Waterway. Contractors hired by the US Coast Guard managed to refloat the ship, but it was clear the vessel’s future was bleak.

“I meticulously maintained that ship,” Mr Willson told CNN, shocked over the sinking. “We had it for 15 years, and we had no problem with it.”

“It haunts me, and I lose sleep over it,” he said.

Today, the city of Stockton is managing the operation to remove the Aurora, though no clear ownership of the ship exists. Chris Willson, who built a large following on YouTube around the restoration project, continues to reflect on his time with the ship, describing it as one of the most fulfilling experiences of his life despite the unfortunate outcome. “I don’t have any regrets on what I’ve done,” he said.

An Australian woman, who was on a cruise ship to celebrate her 70th birthday, was severely attacked by bed bugs which left her with a lot of marks. Monica Robertson stated that she believed “Pacific Encounter” with P&O Cruises would be the ideal way to celebrate her mother’s 70th birthday, as per a report in the New York Post. However, as soon as they entered their cabin on the cruise ship, they felt that there was a problem.

“In the bathroom, there was literally one crawling on me. In the bed I could feel things and peeled back the sheets, and that’s when we saw quite a number of bugs and in the bed with us. (It was) A very, very intense itching, an almost burning like sensation. Very hot, then blistered. They eventually were the size of a 50-cent piece,” she said.

Ms Robertson said that things became worse from that moment. “In the walk-in closet, I had a long black dress hanging with about six or seven small bugs (on it). I called the stewards in, who took the samples away. It was at that point we called the team leader again and we asked about what was the result from the first bug that they took away, and he declined to answer,” she continued.

The woman then requested the cruise ship staff to issue a refund. However, they declined her request. “We did go back and ask, you know, can we have that fee waived, we’ve been bitten on your ship. The answer was no, they’re not going to waive it,” she told the outlet.

The small bugs compelled the family to discard several clothing items they had brought on their vacation. Ms Robertson continued, “We left everything on the lawn. I had to sift through and decide what we could keep and what needed to be thrown away. A majority of things couldn’t be washed.”

However, P&O Cruises told Ms Robertson that there was no proof of bed bugs during cleaning and room searching. She refuted this and said that she was “clearly giving them bugs throughout their stay that they could look at”.

P&O Cruises told a local outlet it has “strict and robust health protocols” on their ships. The family was given the option of a $500 future cruise credit or a $250 refund by the cruise company. “The comfort, health and safety of our guests is of upmost importance to us. Just like hotels, we have rigorous cleaning processes in place to address and resolve any issues that may arise,” a company spokesperson said.