The ex-wife of a man reportedly seen arguing with his partner before she went overboard on a cruise has said if she was on a ship with him she would ‘get off any way I could’.

Kay Longstaff spent 10 hours in the sea after plunging from the seventh deck of the Norwegian Star ship 60 miles off the Croatian coast on Saturday.

The 46-year-old, who lives in Benalmádena on Spain’s Costa del Sol, said she felt ‘lucky to be alive’ after her rescue.

Kay Longstaff exits Croatia’s coast guard ship in Pula, on August 20 after her rescue (Picture: AFP/Getty)

Another passenger onboard the luxury liner claims to have seen Ms Longstaff in several arguments with her partner Craig Rayment on the evening of the incident.




CCTV shows her alone at the time of the fall.

Now Mr Rayment’s ex-wife Kelly Rayment, 38, has offered Ms Longstaff unsolicited support saying: ‘If I was on a ship with him I would get off any way I could.’

Mrs Rayment married her ex in Gibraltar in 2014 but said they split after their ‘volatile’ relationship fell apart shortly afterwards.

They are now in the process of getting a divorce.

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The Norwegian Star cruise ship and the spot where Kay Longstaff fell (Picture: Alamy)

She told the Mirror: ‘Craig’s not a very nice person when he’s been drinking.

‘So him going on a cruise is a recipe for disaster. I can imagine what she went through.’

Ms Longstaff and Mr Rayment were photographed hugging relieved friends at a hotel in Venice on Monday a day after she was finally rescued.

Local police are understood to have spoken to Mr Rayment before the couple were expected to return home to Spain yesterday.

After the incident, Ms Longstaff claimed she fell from the cruise liner and was ‘lucky to be alive’.

But a crew member later suggested she may have jumped after scaling railings on the edge of the deck.

Ms Longstaff being rescued 10 hours after falling into the Adriatic sea (Picture: PA)

Kay Longstaff along with the Croatian Coast Guard members who rescued her on Sunday morning (Picture: PA)

Daniel Punch told MailOnline the fall was unlikely to be an accident, adding: ‘She didn’t fall, she jumped. It was on my ship.

‘I spoke [to her] throughout the whole week. She was arguing with her fella the whole time.’

The woman’s dad, former police officer Ron Longstaff, called claims she had jumped ‘rubbish’.

‘I was sitting in the sun with her a few weeks ago,’ he said.

‘She’s a heroine for surviving 10 hours in the sea. I’m sure she was expecting to die but she kept alive by floating and not swimming.’

My Rayment has not responded to requests for comment.

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