Woman dies in fall from cruise ship

Guardian Unlimited - UK

Sunday September 30, 2007 12:33 PM
A woman died after falling overboard from a cruise liner just before docking at a British port.
Police were alerted at 7am with reports of the woman going overboard from the Oceana cruise liner as it approached Southampton, Hants. A spokesman for Hampshire police said that the woman had not yet been identified. A Coastguard spokesman said that the ship had been searched after the husband of the 67-year-old woman reported her missing. A sea search was launched involving RNLI lifeboats and the Coastguard rescue helicopter and the body was found in the water at Thorne Channel in the Solent near Cowes, Isle of Wight. The body was picked up by the Calshot RNLI inshore lifeboat and airlifted by the rescue hospital to Southampton General Hospital. The spokesman added that sea conditions were calm with good visibility when the woman was reported missing while the Oceana was near Calshot, Hampshire. A spokesman for P&O Cruises said: "We can confirm that a person was reported missing from their cabin just prior to daybreak this morning as Oceana was approaching Southampton.