The Coastguard and the RNLI have launched a search for a crew member who was reported to have gone overboard from a cruise ship.

The alert was raised by the AIDAperla after the male member of the crew went missing on Sunday morning while the vessel was in the English Channel, off Ramsgate, Kent.

A Coastguard spokesman said: “HM Coastguard is co-ordinating the search for a man reported overboard from a passenger ship off Ramsgate on October 22.

“HM Coastguard was alerted at about 8.55am.

“The HM Coastguard search and rescue helicopter was sent from Lydd alongside a Coastguard fixed-wing aircraft and the RNLI’s all-weather lifeboats from Ramsgate and Dover.”

A spokeswoman for AIDA Cruises said: “AIDA Cruises confirms that there is reason to believe that a crew member of AIDAperla went overboard in the English Channel in the early morning of October 22.

“The captain and crew of AIDAperla immediately initiated all necessary rescue measures in close co-ordination with the local authorities.

“The search onboard confirmed that a male crew member is missing.

“The ship was immediately stopped and returned to the spot where the incident was believed to have happened and has taken part in the search since.

“The search for the missing person is ongoing and has our utmost priority.”