A group of holidaymakers were left horrified when they spotted luggage floating in the sea behind their cruise ship. Have a look at what they spotted below:
The passengers were waiting to disembark from the P&O cruise ship Ventura at Southampton when they spotted 20 cases floating in the water.
They say worse things happen at sea, and short of going into the water yourself it's hard to think of many things worse than coming back from holiday only to realise your luggage is at the bottom of the ocean.
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Among the holidaymakers forced to watch the horror was warehouse worker Ally Day, who watched lifeboats be deployed to rescue as much luggage as possible.
The 30-year-old posted a video of the incident to TikTok and other passengers took pictures of the unfortunate event.
The footage has since gone viral, leaving people to commiserate with the unlucky few who appear to have lost their luggage for good.
The cruise ship had been returning to Southampton from Amsterdam on Saturday (4 June) when disaster struck, which Ally handily captured on camera.
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She said: "They take the cases off 20 at a time via a hoist.
"I spoke to a member of staff and they said the hoist had snapped sending 20 cases into the sea with only 10 being recovered."
"At first we just laughed as we carried our cases off, but then we realised that’s people's belongings and we felt bad for them."
Horrified social media users said they felt sorry for the holidaymakers who wouldn't be getting their luggage back.
One person said: "OMG if that was my bag I'd be furious," as another asked: "How does that even happen?"
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P&O later confirmed that the cases had indeed fallen into the sea after a luggage hoist snapped, and that rescue efforts could only fish half of them out of the water.
Even those which were rescued could be seen pouring with water, making whatever was stored inside likely to be ruined by seawater.
A spokeswoman for P&O Cruises said: "We swiftly put our protocols in place to recover the luggage and we have been in touch with all affected guests to apologise and advise on follow up contact."
In its better moments the cruise ship Ventura is better known for entertaining passengers with three theatres, four swimming pools and 22 separate restaurants and bars.
Topics: UK News
Joe Harker