A passenger is believed to have fallen overboard from an 18-deck cruise ship bound for Southampton.

The incident on the MSC Virtuosa sparked a major search in the middle of the night.

Alarms were raised to passengers on board the ship at 2am on Saturday, with the ship setting off “loud explosions” and the captain announcing there was a “man overboard”, reports The Mirror. The ship slowed and crews launched a major search.

A passenger said searchlights were used to illuminate the sea at 2am in a bid to find the missing man.

The research focused on the north of the Casquets rocks, west of Alderney.

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