Get your news delivered straight to you by 7am - sign up to our new Morning Mail newsletter for FREE See more Daily Mail on Google - save us as a Preferred SourceBy ED HOLT Published: 16:07 BST, 21 August 2026 | Updated: 17:19 BST, 21 August 2026
A body has been found after a passenger on a cruise ship was reported to have gone overboard off the coast of Scotland yesterday.The man had been travelling on the MS Ambition which was returning to Dundee after a 13-day Solar Eclipse Cruise to Iceland when the alarm was raised.Emergency services were made aware just before 9am after the man, who had embarked the vessel after its last stop at Shetland, was reported missing.Passengers told how the captain repeatedly called out the passenger's name over the ship's Tannoy system before a major search-and-rescue operation was launched around 40 miles off the coast of Arbroath, Angus.Specialist divers, lifeboats, helicopters as well as nearby vessels were scrambled to the scene and Police Scotland confirmed last night that a body had been recovered.A spokesman said: 'Formal identification is yet to take place however the family of the man who was reported missing has been informed.'UK-based Ambassador Cruise Line, which operates the 10-deck vessel, said the captain reported the man missing as it made its way to its final destination at Dundee, where it is now berthed.In a statement, the company said: 'The ship…was on passage from Lerwick to Dundee when the alarm was raised after it was found that a guest was not where they were expected to be. Pictured: The Ambassador cruise liner Ambition where a man was reported overboard this morning. A major search operation has now been launched in an attempt to find the missing passenger 'Guests on board have been kept informed of developments by the Captain and a thorough ship-wide search was carried out on arrival in Dundee.'On its website the cruise line states that the MS Ambition, built in France in 1999, can cater for up to 1,200 passengers in 680 cabins, of which 125 have balconies.According to one passenger the man's bed had not been slept in.Passengers were initially told to remain onboard while a ship-wide search was carried out but were later allowed to leave the vessel.A spokesman added that the cruise line follows 'stringent' search-and-rescue protocols in line with international maritime safety standards and was working closely with the Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre (MRCC), The Maritime and Coastguard Agency, HM Coastguard and Police Scotland.The firm, said it remained 'committed to the safety and wellbeing' of all its guests and crew.One passenger praised the crew for how 'professionally and calmly' they handled what she described as a 'terrible situation'.She said: 'We know many of us now face rearranging our onward journeys, but our thoughts are entirely with the missing passenger's loved ones at this awful time.'It feels such a sad and poignant end to what was otherwise an absolutely wonderful cruise.'Another echoed this, saying it was a 'very sad ending to what had been an incredible cruise'.But they said: 'The Captain and crew handled the situation with true professionalism and care.'My thoughts are with the family of the missing man, and the crew at this difficult time.'HM Coastguard confirmed it coordinated the search after receiving a report 'about 8.35am on 21 August of a man overboard from a passenger vessel in waters about 36 nautical miles east of Arbroath'.A coastguard helicopter and plane as well as search-and-rescue teams from Dundee, Arbroath and St Andrews were all scrambled to the scene.RNLI lifeboats from Anstruther and Broughty Ferry and a 'commercial' search-and-rescue helicopter and several nearby vessels also assisted.A spokesman for Police Scotland said: 'A search and rescue operation, carried out by police and partner agencies, has been ongoing and a body has been recovered.'The ship was previously chartered by the Scottish Government to provide temporary accommodation for more than 1,000 Ukrainian refugees on the River Clyde in 2022.
