Search launched off Cork coast for missing QE2 crewman

A search is underway off the Irish coast for a man who went overboard from the QE2 cruise ship.

It is believed the passenger fell from the deck of the Cunard ship about 280 miles southwest of Fastnet Rock off the Cork coast.

It is thought the man is a 28-year-old chef from India .

The 67,000-tonne vessel was one day out of Southampton having left New York last week on a six-day Atlantic crossing.

Coastguards at Falmouth in Britain are co-ordinating the search. An Air Corps spotter plane from Baldonnel is assisting in the search.