A French coastguard spokesman said its helicopter found the woman and hoisted her from the water. Despite this, a medical team later pronounced her dead.
A woman has died after going overboard from a cruise ship off the Channel Islands.
The French coastguard said it received a distress message shortly after midnight on Saturday.
A French navy helicopter, an RNLI lifeboat and a Channel Islands air search plane were involved in the rescue mission.
A French coastguard spokesman said its helicopter found the woman, and hoisted them from the water but a medical team later pronounced her dead.
The Channel Islands Air Search said in a post on Facebook that the MSC Virtuosa was north of Les Casquets – northwest of Alderney – at the time.
The volunteer organisation said it was stood down after the person was lifted from the water.
The Virtuosa cruise ship is currently berthed at Southampton docks, having arrived at 8.04am from Cartagena Port in Spain.
The ship’s owner MSC Cruises said: “A guest on board MSC Virtuosa went overboard on 12 October, while the ship was sailing to Southampton.