A young woman’s body has been found in waters off South Australia after she fell from a cruise ship.

The alarm was raised at around 11.30pm on Tuesday on the Pacific Explorer, which left Melbourne on Tuesday en route to Kangaroo Island.

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre have confirmed the body of a 23-year-old woman was found in waters 45km off Cape Jaffa at about 7am, after a search was conducted overnight.

A Melbourne-based Challenger and two PolAir rescue helicopters were deployed to conduct the search alongside Pacific Explorer throughout the night.

The body of a woman was found by the helicopter and was taken to Mt Gambier hospital for identification.

A Carnival Australia spokesperson expressed their “deepest condolences” to the young woman’s family.

“We continue to provide care and assistance to the family member this guest was travelling with and extend our deepest condolences to their loved ones,” the spokesperson said.

 “As you can appreciate this has also deeply impacted our remaining guests and crew.

“We thank all involved who supported this distressing and challenging search operation.”

In a statement released on Tuesday, Carnival Australia confirmed that the young woman had been travelling with a family member.

 “They are being cared for by our on-board team while every effort is being made to find this guest,” the statement said.

Victoria Police will be conducting an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death.

The four-night short cruise departed from Port Melbourne on Tuesday and was due to spend a day at sea on Wednesday but will now return to the departure port.

The Kangaroo Island trip offers guests the opportunity to “walk among endangered Australian sea lions, watch kangaroos feed at dusk or catch a glimpse of a shy platypus.”