Cruise ship descends into horror after passenger travelling alone falls into sea

A cruise ship holiday has descended into chaos after a passenger suffered a horrific fall overboard.

The shocking incident happened on the Princess Cruise ship, the Ruby Princess, while it was approaching San Fransisco in California.

Authorities reported that a man, aged 72, fell overboard before the approach at around 7.00am local time on Monday (2 December).

Ruby Princess was on a five-day holiday to Mexico when the incident happened, with the trip having began on 27 November.

The disappearance of the man was only reported when the cruise ship docked in the city, with crew realising he was unaccounted for.

As a result, he is feared to have fallen overboard, with other alternatives 'ruled out'.

Not identified at this stage, he is now feared to have died in the incident with it being some time since he was last seen.

A Princess Cruise spokesperson said: "Princess worked throughout the day with local authorities.

"CCTV footage has also been extensively reviewed and the ship was searched thoroughly several times without success.

The Ruby Princess as it departed San Fransisco (Tayfun Coskun / Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

"Having ruled out other possibilities, this is being treated as a man overboard incident."

The spokesperson added that everyone at the cruise line 'extends their heartfelt condolences to the family and friends of the guest who was travelling alone'.

US Customs and Border Protection has since taken over the investigation into the incident with the ship now docked in California.

San Francisco TV station KRON4 has also reported that the United States Coast Guard is searching the area via plane, with the search happening up to 45 miles off the coast of nearby Monterey.

The man could not be located when passengers departed the ship (James D. Morgan/Getty Images)

Hunter Schnabel, of the Coast Guard, said: "What information we have to go off kind of does make it a little more difficult.

"To search a wide area of the ocean does take a lot of time and there is a lot that goes into that."

The Ruby Princess has since departed San Fransisco for a 16-day holiday to Hawaii, with more than 4,000 people voyaging on the vessel.

In October, a woman died after falling overboard from the MSC Virtuosa as it sailed near the Channel Islands off the coast of the UK.

British and French police launched an investigation into the matter in an attempt to determine what happened.