A massive search has been launched after the apparent disappearance of a passenger from an Alaskan cruise ship.

Authorities in Vancouver are combing the local area after it was discovered that a 67-year-old woman from the United States who had joined the Sapphire Princess on Sunday in Alaska did not get off at her scheduled destination on the Canadian west coast. A spokesperson for Vancouver’s Victoria Joint Rescue Coordination Centre confirmed that a search of the vessel had found all of the woman’s luggage still unpacked in her room after docking in Canada Bay early Wednesday. Crew members who made the search then called the centre to alert the authorities to the incident.

Rescue services immediately launched air searches and began patrolling the icy waters between Vancouver and Comox. Two Canadian Coast Guard vessels along with a Hercules aircraft, a Buffalo aircraft and three helicopter flights have been launched by Canadian authorities.

The U.S Coastguard was also brought in to search Alaskan waters from the port of Juneau. While it has not been established if the woman may have gone overboard, authorities have feared the worst while acknowledging the large size of the search area.

Meanwhile local police are continuing to search the Sapphire Princess for clues to the woman’s disappearance. It has been confirmed that she boarded the vessel in the Ketchikan but was not seen or heard from since.