A woman from Norfolk is missing, believed drowned, after the yacht she was sailing was overwhelmed in ferocious gales.

Sharon Swallow, 39, with her partner Pete Williams, planned to sail from Gibralter to Lanzarote in the Canary Islands.

They would then join a fleet of up to 100 yachts on the voyage to Antigua, where they planned to start a new life.

But disaster struck off the Moroccan coast, where their yacht, the Roseanne, was overwhelmed in ferocious gales.

The yacht struck gales near Morroco

A Cypriot freighter answered the Roseanne's distress call.

But while Mr Williams and the other two crew members managed to leap onto rescue nets, Ms Swallow lost her footing and was swept into the sea.

On Tuesday, Ms Swallow's parents, Don and Gill, said they had been overwhelmed by messages of support following the accident on 13 November.

They had flown to Gibralter last month as a surprise to celebrate her 39th birthday.

'Lovely person'

Until Spring this year Ms Swallow had worked for 10 years at the Oaklands Hotel in Norwich where she was head receptionist.

Marcus Pearcey, of the Oaklands Hotel, paid tribute to her.

"She was a great all-round lovely person," he said.

"It was her dream to go off and sail in the boat. It is just very sad it ended the way it did."

From the British consulate in Casablanca Ms Swallow's partner Pete Williams told the BBC he was devastated by what had happened.