A search is under way off the Kent coast after reports of a crew member falling overboard from a cruise ship.
The coastguard was alerted at about 09:00 BST on Sunday after the man disappeared from the German vessel AIDAperla off Ramsgate.
The HM Coastguard search and rescue helicopter was sent from Lydd alongside a fixed-wing aircraft.
The RNLI sent all-weather lifeboats from Ramsgate and Dover to join the search.
The AIDAperla was travelling from Hamburg in Germany to Las Palmas in the Canary Islands, the cruise company has confirmed.
A spokesman for AIDA Cruises said: “The captain and crew of AIDAperla immediately initiated all necessary rescue measures, in close co-ordination with the local authorities.
“The search on board 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 taken part in the search.”
In a cruise industry first, AIDA Cruises marked the beginning of the season with a double call of the AIDAsol and AIDAmar in Rostock-Warnemünde, where the two cruise ships connected simultaneously to shore power, according to a press release.
“We are delighted by this successful shore power premiere in Rostock-Warnemünde. Thanks to the opening of further shore power facilities in European ports, we will be able to expand our commitment this year. Our goal is to be able to use shore power in all ports in the future. We, therefore, welcome the decisions of other ports to develop a corresponding solution. With our commitment to decarbonization, we are not only driving the energy transition in the cruise sector, but we are also providing an example of how to shape local value creation in our destinations sustainably,” said Felix Eichhorn, president of AIDA Cruises.
The two ships using shore power to supply energy is an important contribution to reducing carbon emissions while ships are docked in port, AIDA said in a press release.
The first shore power facility for cruise ships opened in the Baltic Sea region in 2021 with the AIDAsol in Rostock-Warnemünde during the 12th German National Maritime Conference.
The shore power plant in Warnemünde can supply two ships simultaneously at berths P7 and P8.
AIDA Cruises has announced that the AIDAaura will leave its fleet this September, in line with Carnival Corporation’s announcement to slim down its fleet by divesting another three older and smaller ships.
The German brand has therefore announced a farewell season for the ship, kicking off on Jan. 9, 2023, in Cape Town with the first of a total of four 14-day voyages to South Africa & Namibia.
On March 6, 2023, the 27-day cruise from South Africa to Hamburg (Germany), via Namibia, the Cape Verde Islands and the Canary Islands, as well as Portugal and Spain, will depart from the metropolis on the Cape of Good Hope.
Starting in April, cruises include the “Great Norway Round Trip” to the North Cape over Easter or the two new seven-day voyages on the AIDAaura from/to Hamburg to Norway’s fjords and to Scotland. These can also be booked as a 14-day cruise.
In July and August 2023, it’s time to sail from Hamburg and Bremerhaven on 21-day cruises to Iceland and Greenland with passages along the glaciers and icebergs in Prins-Christian-Sund or Disko Bay.
AIDAaura’s last voyage for AIDA Cruises leads on well-known European rivers such as the Thames to Tilbury on the outskirts of the British capital London, the Seine in France to Rouen or the Scheldt in Belgium to Antwerp.
The AIDAaura was named on April 12, 2003, in Rostock. Among highlights, in its debut season, AIDAaura was the official German Olympic ship during the Summer Games in Athens (Greece) and sailed to destinations in the Mediterranean as well as the Caribbean and Central America. Further highlights were the exclusive AIDAselection voyages to Mauritius and Seychelles, to the Orient, to India and Greenland, to Iceland or as far as the Arctic Circle to Spitsbergen.
As part of the world cruise in winter 2018/2019, AIDAaura guests visited 41 destinations on four continents in 117 days.
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