Two die on bug-hit cruise ship

Two passengers on board the bug-hit P&O Cruises' liner Aurora have died, the company said today.

But P&O said the deaths were "not related" to the norovirus which has afflicted around 500 of passengers on the luxury liner in the last few days.

A company spokeswoman said: "I can confirm that two passengers have died during the duration of the cruise, but must stress that they are both unrelated to the norovirus."

Later, P&O said that one of the deaths had happened at the beginning of the cruise which started on October 20, and that the other happened last weekend.

A spokeswoman added: "Both were male passengers in their 70s and both deaths were heart-related."

The virus causes nausea, chronic diarrhoea and vomiting. When many passengers succumbed to the illness, the Aurora was refused permission to dock in Greece.

The 1,800-passenger vessel then sailed for Gibraltar where its arrival led to a political storm in Anglo-Spanish relations, with Spain closing its border with Gibraltar when the ship docked there.

The move, the first of its kind in more than 30 years, sparked angry criticism from senior British and Gibraltarian politicians who labelled it "unnecessary and disproportionate".

The frontier was eventually reopened on Tuesday night three hours after the Aurora left to sail back to Southampton.

Earlier, passengers were allowed off the ship in Gibraltar, although 50 had been asked to stay on board by the Gibraltarian authorities.

The ship is due to dock at Southampton early tomorrow morning.