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Cruise ship fall victim was located 'very quickly'

Channel Islands Air Search A thermal camera image of a large cruise ship on the sea. Light areas indicating heat show hundreds of windows, as well as hotspots where the water is churned up by the boat and its wake.Channel Islands Air Search
The search crew used thermal image cameras to capture the entire rescue operation

The body of a woman who died after falling from a cruise ship was located "very quickly", according to the head of the air search service.

John Fitzgerald, accountable manager at Channel Islands Air Search, said its plane located her within 30 minutes of taking off in the early hours of Saturday.

He told the BBC that tides flowed quickly in the area, west of Alderney, and search efforts typically took several hours or required multiple searches.

However, conditions were good during the search mission and the team used thermal cameras to help locate the body, which was recovered by a French helicopter, he said.

The alarm was raised after the woman in her 20s went overboard north of Les Casquets rocks.

Mr Fitzgerald said the service received a call from French authorities at about 01:20 BST and the service's five-seater plane was airborne "about 30 to 35 minutes later".

The French search and rescue service said the casualty from the MSC Virtuosa was winched from the sea by a helicopter crew and later pronounced dead by doctors.

A man in a blue woollen jumper stands in front of a small granite wall and a neat hedge. He has bushy eyebrows and white, whispy hair.
John Fitzgerald heads up Channel Islands Air Search which is called out when people's lives are in danger

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