Cruise ship carrying 206 people runs aground in Greenland and rescue will not arrive until Friday
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A cruise ship with 206 passengers and crew onboard has run aground in north-west Greenland, and remained stuck even after high tide. COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — The luxury cruise ship MV Ocean Explorer was successfully pulled free on Thursday, three days after running aground in Greenland with 206 people on board, authorities and the ship’s owner said. The cruise ship ran aground Monday above the Arctic Circle in Alpefjord in Northeast Greenland National Park, the world's northernmost national park. Alpefjord is about 240 kilometers (150 miles) from the closest settlement, Ittoqqortoormiit, which is nearly 1,400 kilometers (870 miles) from the country's capital, Nuuk.
Grounded cruise ship carrying thousands refloated
COPENHAGEN, Denmark — The luxury cruise ship MV Ocean Explorer was successfully pulled free on Thursday, three days after running aground in Greenland with 206 people on board, authorities and the ship's owner said. A luxury cruise ship that ran aground in a remote part of Greenland with 206 people onboard has been pulled free by a fishing trawler. The cruise ship ran aground above the Arctic Circle on Monday in Alpefjord, which is in Northeast Greenland National Park. The park encompasses almost as much land as France and Spain combined, and about 80% is permanently covered by an ice sheet.
Stranded luxury cruise ship MV Ocean Explorer is pulled free at high tide in Greenland
The Ocean Explorer will be taken to a port to assess any damage, while the passengers will be flown home, said SunStone Maritime Group, which owns the cruise vessel. “There have not been any injuries to any person onboard, no pollution of the environment and no breach of the hull,” SunStone said in a statement. The Bahamas-flagged cruise ship has passengers from Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, Britain and the U.S. The cruise ship ran aground above the Arctic Circle Monday in Alpefjord, which is in the Northeast Greenland National Park. The park covers 972,000 square kilometers (603,973 square miles), almost as much land as France and Spain combined, and approximately 80% is permanently covered by an ice sheet, according to the Visit Greenland tourism board.
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"However, in this specific situation, we do not see any immediate danger to human life or the environment, which is reassuring," he added. "The nearest help is far away, our units are far away, and the weather can be very unfavorable," Jensen said. "However, in this specific situation, we do not see any immediate danger to human life or the environment, which is reassuring." There was no immediate comment from the tour company that organised the trip, Australia-based Aurora Expeditions.
Crew members attempted to float clear of land at several high tides but were unsuccessful because the boat is held in place by suction from mud, Jensen told Bloomberg. The primary mission of the Joint Arctic Command is to ensure Danish sovereignty by monitoring the area around the Faeroe Islands and Greenland, two semi-independent territories that are part of the Danish realm.
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In total, WPDE said that nine passengers were not allowed to reenter the ship, including four elderly people and one person who is a paraplegic. According to local media, the ship is the Norwegian Escape, with some 3,000 tourists and 1,600 crew on board. A representative for Aurora Expeditions, the cruise ship's operator, told Insider that everyone on board the vessel was safe and well. "They can either try to get out on their own help when the tide becomes high, they can get help from a nearby cruise ship, they can get assistance from Knud Rasmussen, or they can get help of one of our collaborators," Jensen said. The Joint Arctic Command said it has asked a nearby cruise ship to remain in the area to provide assistance in case the situation changes. According to the Joint Arctic Command's statement on Tuesday morning, their closest ship, the inspection vessel Knud Rasmussen, is approximately 1,200 nautical miles away from the Ocean Explorer.
The Joint Arctic Command said the ship grounded in Alpefjord, part of the Northeast Greenland National Park, the world's largest national park, on Tuesday. According to Greenland travel site Visit Greenland, the remote area is an area considered an "Arctic Desert" because annual rainfall is so low. Authorities have been in contact with another cruise ship in the area and it had been asked to remain nearby to assist should the situation develop. The primary mission of the Joint Arctic Command is to ensure Danish sovereignty by monitoring the area around the Faeroe Islands and Greenland, including the Arctic Ocean in the north. Greenland is a semi-independent territory that is part of the Danish realm, as are the Faeroe Islands. Passengers posted pictures of the incident on social media, showing tug boats alongside the ship.
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Alpefjord is about 240 kilometers (150 miles) from the closest settlement, Ittoqqortoormiit, which is nearly 1,400 kilometers (870 miles) from the country’s capital, Nuuk. Dozens of cruise ships sail along Greenland's coast every year so passengers can admire the picturesque mountainous landscape, waterways packed with icebergs of different sizes and glaciers jutting out into the sea. A cruise ship with 206 passengers and crew on board has run aground in northwestern Greenland - and rescuers will not arrive until Friday at the earliest, authorities said.
Cruise ship pulled free after running aground in Greenland - Reuters
Cruise ship pulled free after running aground in Greenland.
Posted: Thu, 14 Sep 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]
It has 77 cabins, 151 passenger beds and 99 beds for crew, and several restaurants, according to the Sunstone Group website. Alpefjord sits in a remote corner of Greenland, some 240 kilometers (149 miles) away from the closest settlement, Ittoqqortoormiit, which itself is nearly 1,400 kilometers (870 miles) from the country’s capital, Nuuk. The Ocean Explorer is among an "award-winning Infinity-class of vessels," according to Aurora Expeditions, which offers excursions on the vessel. The Joint Arctic Command says that when they came across the vessel, there were 206 people onboard.
According to WPDE, the group flew to Gambia on Sunday, hoping to rejoin the ship at another port. The elderly passenger who was concussed was returned to the US, where she has made a "safe return," a spokesperson for Norwegian Cruise Line said. It added that the deadline to return was "communicated broadly" over the ship's intercom, in printed communications, and on posts shown at the exits of the ship. The Norwegian Cruise Line said in a statement provided to BI by email that eight guests on the tour missed the last tender back to the vessel. They were refused entry to the ship upon their return, according to WPDE, even though they could still see the ship from the shore. Jay and Jill Campbell, from Garden City, South Carolina, described their ordeal with a Norwegian Cruise Line ship in an interview with WPDE, their local ABC affiliate.
Rescue efforts aren't expected to reach the scene until Friday, but a military flight over the ship confirmed its hull is intact, there is no oil spilling from the vessel, and there have been no injuries. “There are still no reports that human life or the environment is in acute danger,” Joint Arctic Command said. The cruise liner began its current trip on Sept. 2 in Kirkenes in Arctic Norway and was due to return to Bergen, Norway, on Sept. 22, according to SunStone Ships. "Now it is exciting to find out what the condition of the ship is," Jensen was quoted as saying by KNR.
"They are in the process of investigating whether the ship is intact and seaworthy and ready to sail on." Cmdr. Brian Jensen of the Joint Arctic Command told Greenland broadcaster KNR that the ship is likely to go to Iceland, the closest place with large ports. A TikTok video showed the couple waving and begging the crew to wait for them, even though the gangway appeared to have already been removed. A spokesperson for the cruise line said that the ship could not safely dock in Gambia due to adverse weather conditions, adding that efforts are being made for the guests to rejoin the ship in Senegal on Tuesday.
Three people on board the ship have Covid-19, the Sydney-based charter group Aurora Expedition, which organised the cruise, confirmed on Thursday. Mary Roeloffs is a Forbes reporter who covers breaking news with a frequent focus on the entertainment industry, streaming, sports news, publishing, pop culture and climate change. She’s covered Netflix’s hottest documentaries, a surge of assaults reported on social media, the most popular books of the year and how climate change stands to impact the way we eat. Roeloffs was included on Editor & Publisher Magazine's “25 Under 30” list in 2023 and worked covering local news in the greater Boston area from 2017 to 2023. She graduated with a double major in political science and journalism from Northeastern University. The cruise line said the passengers missed the "all aboard time of 3 p.m. local time." It said it was a "very unfortunate situation" but that passengers were responsible for being on time.
The Bahamas-flagged cruise ship has passengers from Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, the United Kingdom and the United States. It has an inverted bow, shaped like the one on a submarine, 77 cabins, 151 passenger beds and 99 beds for crew, and several restaurants. "There have not been any injuries to anybody onboard, no pollution of the environment and no breach of the hull," SunStone Ships said in a statement.
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