Baby missing after falling from ferry

A baby was missing last night after falling from a ferry in Northern Ireland.

A woman and the child plunged from the Stena Line boat as it made its way into Belfast port from Cairnryan on Scotland’s western coast.

A major air and sea search was launched and is expected to continue tomorrow.

The woman was rescued and taken to the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast for treatment, where she is stable. She was recovered by a pilot boat 15 minutes after the alarm was raised.

The incident happened in Belfast Lough at around 6:10pm on a busy shipping route between Northern Ireland and Scotland.

John McPoland, a spokesman for the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service, described the condition of the woman. “She had been in the water for a while so you can understand that with the coldness of the water she would have been hypothermic,” he said.