The Villa Vie Odyssey cruise ship has finally left Cambodia , sailing out of Sihanoukville early on Wednesday with no passengers on board and a crew of around 50.

The departure came after more than 200 passengers, who had paid tens of thousands of dollars for years of life at sea, were made to disembark.

Taing Sochitkrishna, head of the Sihanoukville tourism department, gave the figures for those on board as the ship pulled away.

He said around 100 passengers were still in Cambodia, while most of the others had flown on to destinations elsewhere in the region.

The vessel's owner, Villa Vie Residences, which is based in Florida, suspended operations last week and ordered passengers off the ship at the port town.

The company said fuel price increases from the Iran war had made operations prohibitively expensive.

Passengers spent Tuesday unloading the last of their belongings from the vessel, and many said they did not expect to come back to the ship.

"There are still many things ‌on the ship that I wish…