Murder arrest after man’s death on cruise ship

A 57-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of murder after the death of a 60-year-old man on a cruise ship in British waters.

The death reportedly followed an altercation on MSC Virtuosa at 20:30 BST on Saturday, police said.

The ship had left Southampton at 18:00 that evening on a two-night excursion to Bruges, Belgium.

A man from Exeter was arrested and remains in custody.

Det Ch Insp Matt Gillooly, from Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary, said: “We want to reassure you that this appears to be an isolated incident on board, and we want to thank the crew for their cooperation and assistance with our inquiries.”

The detective appealed for information from the crew and passengers.

The ship returned from Bruges at 06:00 on Monday and remains in Southampton.

In a statement, MSC Cruises said: “Following an incident on board our ship, the relevant authorities were contacted and we are cooperating fully with their investigations.

“We are providing full support to those impacted.”

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