A woman has died after falling overboard from a cruise ship on its way to Southampton.
Emergency teams, including French search and rescue and Channel Island Air Search, rushed to the scene after reports that a woman had fallen overboard from MSC Virtuosa.
The ship was sailing towards Southampton, via the Solent, in the early hours of this morning (Saturday, October 12).
Rescuers scoured the English Channel near Les Casquets, near the island of Alderney, at around 2am.
Her body was later recovered.
Police forces from the UK and France, including Hampshire and IW Constabulary and the National Crime Agency, are now involved in the investigation.
The ship, which is currently docked in Southampton, arrived into port at around 8.30am, two hours and 15 minutes later than scheduled, according to ABP's shipping movements page.
In a statement a spokesperson for MSC Cruises said: "A guest on board MSC Virtuosa went overboard on October 12, while the ship was sailing to Southampton. T
"he 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."
Passengers reported that alarms were raised on board just before 1am, with the ship later letting off "three loud blasts".
One cruise passenger told the Mirror newspaper: "The ship let off loud blasts, I thought the ship was in trouble, then the captain announced 'man overboard, man overboard, port side' the ship slowed down and they had spotlights into the sea looking for him."
Virtuosa, which regularly travels through the Solent, departed from Cartagena in Spain on Tuesday, bound for Southampton.
Writing on Facebook, a spokesperson for Channel Island Air Search said: “Channel Islands Air Search were called out early this morning and requested to assist Jobourg MRCC in the search for a person overboard from the MSC Virtuosa cruise ship, north of Les Casquets.
“Lions' Pride departed from Guernsey at 2am and set course for the search area.
“The French navy helicopter Rescue Beligou Yankee was also in attendance.
“Arriving on scene at 2.21am, a search was commenced using the Wescam infra-red camera.
“At 2:33am Joburg MRCC reported that the casualty had been located by Beligou Yankee approximately 1.5 nautical miles north of Lions' Pride and winching operations were in progress.
“Having observed the completion of the winching operation, Lions' Pride was stood down and returned to Guernsey, landing at 3am.”
A police spokesperson added: “Officers from Hampshire and IW Constabulary have been deployed to assist with enquiries relating to this incident.
“It has been reported that the woman went overboard the MSC Virtuosa during the early hours of this morning and subsequently died.
“The investigation is not being managed by UK authorities.”
Officers have attended the ship to "help with initial enquiries" before it is handed over to the relevant authority, the spokesperson added.
Virtuosa is due to leave Southampton bound for Cork at 8pm - it is as yet unconfirmed whether this will be delayed.
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