Cruise ship gang-rape horror as teenager on school trip in Italy 'is sexually assaulted by three French men who lured victim into their cabin'

Three French men who allegedly gang-raped a 19-year-old woman on board a cruise ship have been taken into custody in Italy after the ship came into port following the attack.

The suspects boarded the vessel in Marseilles - one of the vessel's six stops on its circuit of the Balearic and Tyrrhenian seas - on Friday, days after the alleged victim climbed aboard in Civitavecchia, a port town just northwest of Rome.

She embarked on the cruise as part of a school trip and had spent several days on the ship with classmates before her three alleged attackers came aboard. 

Hours after they boarded the vessel, the three perpetrators are said to have lured the young passenger into their cabin before forcing themselves upon her in the locked room.

The traumatised girl later reported her ordeal to the ship's captain, who in turn notified the authorities before coming into port in Genoa at the weekend.

The ship performs a tour of the Western Mediterranean, the Tyrrhenian and Balearic seas, stopping off at several ports in Spain, France and Italy

Upon their arrival in port, the ship was locked down with no passengers allowed to disembark while Italian police arrested the three suspects, interviewed the victim and obtained security camera footage from the ship. 

The suspects will be held in Genoa while the investigation into the incident continues. It is not clear whether the victim also disembarked in Genoa. 

The cruise ship meanwhile has since continued on its journey and will soon head for Ibiza after arriving in the port of Palermo in Sicily earlier today. 

The shocking incident comes just weeks after a British holidaymaker was raped onboard another cruise ship in March, with police in Majorca arresting a Kenyan man on board the vessel.

The 27-year-old man was detained when the ship docked in the island capital Palma from Naples in Italy on March 15.

A female passenger, 33, from the UK alleged she had been raped while at high sea.

A27-year-old man was detained when a ship docked in Palma on March 15 following a report from a British passenger who claimed she was raped

The Kenyan man, was not named but was described locally as an entertainer on the cruise liner. 

Local reports said the suspect and the alleged victim had been dancing together before the alleged rape. 

The man was later released on bail following a court appearance. It was not immediately clear if he was allowed to leave Majorca or had to surrender his passport.

Local reports said the man held had declined to answer questions from a judge who tried to quiz him.

The British woman left the ship so she could get examined in a hospital and give a statement to police.

The vessel was performing a similar round trip of the Western Mediterranean.