Bad hair day on luxury cruise

The Oceana was named by Princess Anne at Southampton docks in May

Luxury cruise passengers who took a dip in the ship's pool were horrified to see their hair turn bright green.

Chlorine in the water on the P&O cruise ship Oceana dyed the hair of nine unlucky passengers when they went for a swim.

The on-board hairdressing staff had to work to change their hair colour back to normal before the ship docked at Southampton on Wednesday.

At least 95 of the 2,000 holidaymakers were also struck by a mild gastro-intestinal illness during the 10-day trip around Spain, Portugal and the Canary Islands.

Goodwill gesture

P&O Cruises has started an investigation into the cause of the outbreak, which a spokeswoman said the company was taking "very seriously".

The spokeswoman also said initial tests showed chemical levels in the pool were at acceptable levels.

She said the affected swimmers, who all had either very fair or dyed hair, had been invited to the ship's beauty salon as a gesture of goodwill.

The pool was also drained and refilled as a precautionary measure.

Oceana was named by the Princess Anne at the Hampshire port of Southampton in May, while her daughter Zara Philips, 22, christened its sister ship Adonia.

The spokeswoman said: "Really both were very mild complaints effecting relatively small numbers of passengers.

"But we do take any incident like this very seriously."