A major search began on Sunday after a crew member fell overboard from a cruise ship off the coast of Kent.
HM Coastguard had been alerted at about 8.55am after the man disappeared off Ramsgate from AIDAperla, a German vessel that was travelling from Hamburg in Germany to Las Palmas in the Canary Islands. A helicopter, a Coastguard aircraft and lifeboats were involved in the search, which was later called off for the night.
AIDA Cruises said: “The ship was immediately stopped and returned to the spot where the incident was believed to have taken part in the search.” The RNLI told ITV News that it sent out two all-weather lifeboats with the Ramsgate crew receiving the call at 8.20am while the Dover crew launched 15 minutes later at 8.35am.
AIDA Cruises said: “In the search for a missing crew member in the sea area of the English Channel/Strait of Dover, the MRCC Dover took over the further coordination of the search this morning. It involved official ships, a helicopter and AIDAperla.
“Unfortunately, the search has so far been unsuccessful. AIDAperla was released from the search operation by the MRCC Dover after dark at around 6.15pm and resumed its journey towards La Coruña. It is expected there on October 24 at around 9am.
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“At this difficult time, our thoughts are with the family of the missing person and his colleagues. In addition, we are in close contact with his family and the AIDAperla crew.
The AIDA Cruises ship departed Hamburg on Friday as part of a 27-day transatlantic voyage with multiple embarkation and debarkation ports including the Canary Islands, La Romana in the Dominican Republic and Bridgetown in Barbados, according to the Cruise Hive website.
AIDAperla is among one of the larger vessels in the fleet with a passenger capacity of up to 3,400 and a crew capacity of 900.