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Search called off after woman falls from P&O Cruises ship
The search for a woman who fell from a P&O Cruise ship has been called off.
The passenger went overboard from the Brisbane-bound Pacific Dawn about 16:00 local time (06:00 GMT) on Thursday, in the Coral Sea about 186 miles west of New Caledonia.
The ship turned around immediately to search for the woman but Australian maritime authorities decided to end the search at around 07:30 Friday.
"The difficult decision to suspend the search was made only after expert advice that survival after this length of time in difficult sea conditions and after a full night at sea was not considered possible," said a P&O Cruises spokesman.
The rescue effort was hampered by challenging conditions.
According to local reports, the woman had appeared to be suffering from seasickness before she fell from the vessel in rough seas.
The ship was on a week-long cruise to Vanuatu and New Caledonia and has now resumed its course for Brisbane.
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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