Pensioners who sold their homes for an 'endless cruise' are left homeless after the ship's fuel runs out in Cambodia

Paul Montoya, 68, and his wife Lynn, 64, paid $450,000 in total — more than half in unexpected extra costs — after boarding the Villa Vie Odyssey expecting to spend the rest of their lives at sea. Passengers were given as little as seven hours' notice to disembark in Sihanoukville, a Cambodian port city notorious for human trafficking, after soaring fuel costs made the voyage financially unsustainable.

Randy Cassingham, 66, and his 71-year-old wife Kit sold their dream home and car and cashed in their pensions — leaving them with nowhere to return to.

Fuel expenses rocketed from $1,800 to $8,000 per cabin per month, and the company even asked 22 residents for a collective $2.2 million loan to keep sailing.

Founder Mikael Petterson told Business Insider: 'I'm the villain in the story' — while 203 passengers and more than 150 crew were stranded ashore.