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A total of 3,500 passengers are believed to have had their holidays cancelled by a cruise company.

Oxford-based Voyages to Antiquity was forced to cancel all its cruises until late August due to a technical fault to its single MV Aegean Odyssey ship.

Passengers who booked for a 12-day cruise of the Black Sea starting 2 May were only informed of the cancellation two days earlier.

The company apologised for the "unforeseeable" issue.

As the 47-year-old MV Aegean Odyssey has a capacity of 350 passengers, it is believed up to 3,500 customers may have been affected.

Voyages to Antiquity said those affected are being contacted and refunded as it does "everything possible to minimise disruption".

"Voyages to Antiquity would like to apologise for the inconvenience these cancellations will cause to our guests.

"The mechanical issue experienced was unavoidable and unforeseeable."

MV Aegean Odyssey, reportedly the first British-managed one to visit Odessa in Ukraine for some years, underwent a multi-million pound overhaul in 2010,

The cruise's destinations include Italy, Montenegro, Croatia, Albania and Greece.