Around-the-world cruise staff member missing at sea

A search is under way for a crew member missing at sea from an around-the-world cruise.

The 120-night voyage set sail from Lisbon, Portugal, bound for Tilbury in Essex, at 15:25 BST on Thursday.

The member of staff was reported missing after breakfast when they "could not be located" at the start of their working day.

A "full and thorough" search of the ship had been conducted and it was being reversed to retrace its route, a spokeswoman for Ambassador Cruise Line said.

The ship, called Ambience, was on the final leg of its around-the-world tour when the emergency was raised with the coastguard.

Passengers had been taken to Rio de Janeiro in Brazil and Cape Town in South Africa last month, having previously visited Australia and India.

Ambience was due to arrive in Tilbury at 03:00 on Sunday.

Marine traffic scanners showed the vessel had been taken back to the north-west coast of Spain earlier.

"Ambience has now reversed course to retrace her route to the sea area where the crew member was last seen," the spokeswoman said.

"Ambassador is committed to the safety and wellbeing of all our crew and guests.

"The search for the missing person is ongoing and remains our utmost priority."

Ambassador, which markets itself as "Britain's premium value no-fly cruise line", says it sails from eight regional UK ports.

Its head office is in Purfleet, Essex.

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