A person has tragically died after falling overboard from the MSC Virtuosa cruise ship off the Channel Islands in the early hours of Saturday morning.
The French coastguard received a distress call shortly after midnight, prompting a large-scale rescue operation involving a French navy helicopter, an RNLI lifeboat, and a Channel Islands air search plane.
The French coastguard confirmed that the individual, reported to be a woman, was found and hoisted from the water by a helicopter. Unfortunately, despite the rescue efforts, a medical team later pronounced her dead.
The Channel Islands Air Search reported that the incident occurred north of Les Casquets, northwest of Alderney. The volunteer organisation said it was stood down once the individual had been recovered from the water.
The MSC Virtuosa, owned by MSC Cruises, had been en route to Southampton, where it berthed at 8:04 a.m. after departing from Cartagena Port in Spain. The cruise ship company issued a statement following the incident: “A guest on board MSC Virtuosa went overboard on 12 October while the ship was sailing to Southampton.
