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.
 

Belfast, United Kingdom:

A luxury round-the-world cruise ship beset with technical delays and docked in rainy Belfast since May finally departed from the Northern Irish capital late Monday, prompting celebration among its passengers.

“We are going to have one heck of a time tonight, we are going to party like there’s no tomorrow,” beaming passenger Joe Martino told AFP before boarding.

The Odyssey residential cruise ship pulled out from Belfast harbour at 2240 GMT as passengers cheered on board.

But even Monday’s departure was hit with yet another technical hiccup.

Dozens of passengers were left waiting in Belfast’s cruise terminal beyond the scheduled boarding time as a last piece of required paperwork was held up.

After Mike Petersen, head of the US-based firm Villa Vie Residences that owns the Odyssey ship, at last, announced the green light for the ship’s exit passengers shrieked with elation and hugged each other.

“The exhilaration of getting on that ship, when it takes off it will be the feeling of a lifetime,” said Martino, 61, an actor from Chicago who spent the last four months waiting in Belfast.

Passenger Holly Hennessy, holding her cat named “Captain”, said ecstatically: “I’ve been in Belfast for four months and two days, but hey, who’s counting!” 

‘Everything went wrong’ 

The Odyssey was scheduled to set sail from the Northern Irish capital on May 30 on a three-and-a-half-year cruise.

But outfitting, certification processes and engine repairs all took much longer than expected.

“Everything that could go wrong went wrong,” Martino said.

The ship had undergone repairs for engine trouble in drydock at Belfast’s Harland & Wolff, the famed shipyard where the doomed Titanic was built more than a hundred years ago.

Further delay was caused by the shipbuilder going into financial administration this month.

Passengers are able to either buy or rent long-term cabins on the so-called “residential” cruise ship, with the promise of unlimited voyages around the globe.

During the long wait, passengers could spend all day on board the ship but were not allowed to sleep there, so spent the nights in hotels or rented apartments instead.

Some decided to explore Northern Ireland, while others took the opportunity to travel in Europe or join other cruises while the Odyssey remained stuck.

They then flocked back to Belfast in recent days for the expected departure, which will see the ship head first to Brest, then Bilbao, the Azores, and across the Atlantic towards the Caribbean.

The floating town, which can accommodate around 600 passengers, is due to visit all seven continents with more than 425 stops in 147 destinations planned.

Port stays will last between two to seven days.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)