Royal Caribbean cruise: Desperate hunt to find Brit who fell 100ft overboard from Explorer of the Seas ship in Croatia

Croatian authorities said on Friday (9 August) that "a young Brit" from the Royal Caribbean's Explorer of the Seas ship went missing after he plunged 100ft from the vessel's decks. He is believed to be a man on a seven-day Greece-Croatia route.

The cruise ship took off on August 3 before he went overboard. The search operation has been extended by the National Center for Search and Rescue at Sea.

Rescuers explained that survival in these conditions was more likely due to the warm water - and they vowed not to give up. However, Sanjin Dumanic, the president of the Association of Croatian Associations of Sea Captains told national broadcaster HTV that hope is dwindling.

Dumanic said: "Since the man has been in the sea for over 40 hours, we are already losing hope. We would all like him to be found, but 40 hours is a very long time and we are losing hope that this search will end successfully".

The missing Brit fell into the Adriatic sea from a height of more than 100ft at around 4.30am local time. Several ships in the area reportedly joined the frantic search after an alarm was raised on the vessel.