A post mortem examination will be carried out today on the body of a woman who died after falling overboard from a cruise ship as it came into Southampton.

Police were alerted at 7am yesterday to reports of the woman going overboard from the Oceana cruise ship as it returned from a two-day cruise to Zeebrugge, Belgium.

A spokesman for the Coastguard said that the ship had been searched after the husband of the 67-year-old woman reported her missing.

He added: ''The lady's husband had reported to crew that he had last seen her in their cabin earlier that morning around 5.45am when the vessel would have been off Calshot.'' A sea search was launched involving RNLI lifeboats and the Coastguard rescue helicopter and the woman's body was found in the water at Thorne Channel in the Solent near Cowes.

The body was picked up by the Calshot RNLI inshore lifeboat and airlifted by the rescue helicopter to Southampton General Hospital.

Detective Inspector Kath Barnes, of Hampshire police, said last night: ''We are keeping an open mind as to how this incident occurred and are currently treating the woman's death as unexplained.

''We will continue to investigate this matter and ask anyone with information to contact the police.'' A post mortem examination will be carried out today at the Royal Hampshire County Hospital in Winchester to establish how the woman died.

The Coastguard spokesman said that sea conditions were calm with good visibility when the woman was reported missing while the Oceana was near Calshot, Hampshire.

A spokesman for P&O Cruises said its missing persons procedures were immediately put into action, including notifying the Coastguard, after the woman's absence was reported.

''A police investigation is under way with which we are cooperating fully,'' he added.

The spokesman said the Oceana, which has a capacity of 2,272 passengers,left yesterday afternoon for a 14 day cruise to the Mediterranean