Queen Mary 2 crew member feared drowned overboard

A crew member on board the Queen Mary 2 cruise ship is feared drowned, after falling overboard. Colleagues spent five hours looking for the man as the Cunard flagship made its way from Southampton to Halifax, Canada.

However, a spokeswoman for Cunard said the search had now been called off: “A search was carried out for a missing crew member on Queen Mary 2. It has been clearly established that the crew member went overboard earlier this morning.

“The ship was off the coast of Newfoundland and, in association with local authorities, it carried out an extensive search of the area in which he went overboard, but, unfortunately, there were no sightings. Having discussed this with experts ashore, there is no possibility that the crew member could have survived this long in the water and we, therefore, have to presume that he died in the water.

Passenger Allan Bonner said there were on-board announcements for a man called Favio Ordenes, believed to be a 26-year-old chef, before the search began.

Bonner said: “As the ship appeared to be approaching the Grand Banks, the captain, Kevin Oprey, made a dignified announcement saying we’re going back to the spot that Mr Ordenes was first thought to be missing.

“Some crew say they’ve never heard of losing a crew member. Some memories go back 30 or so years.

“The rocking of the usually calm ship was a signal that something abnormal was going on.”