A crew member from Cunard’s Queen Mary 2 cruise ship is feared drowned after falling overboard.

The Cunard flagship left Southampton on Tuesday on its way to Halifax, Canada.

The crewman is believed to have fallen from the ship early on Saturday morning, Cunard said.

The Southampton-based ship turned to retrace its course and spent five hours looking for the man.

However, the search has now been called off.

A Cunard spokeswoman told the BBC: “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.

“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