Luxury cruise ship that ran aground in Greenland freed after 3 days
Global News
The cruise ship was freed by a research vessel at high tide.
The luxury cruise ship MV Ocean Explorer was “successfully” pulled free in Greenland on Thursday, three days after running aground with 206 people on board, authorities and the ship’s owner said.
The ship was freed by a fisheries research vessel at high tide, said the cruise ship’s owner, Copenhagen-based SunStone Ships and the Arctic Command, which had been coordinating the operation.
With a combination of the Ocean Explorer’s own power while being pulled by the research vessel, the cruise ship finally came unstuck.
“There have not been any injuries to anybody onboard, no pollution of the environment and no breach of the hull,” the ship’s owner said.
The name of the research ship was Tarajoq and it belongs to the Greenland Institute of Natural Resources, a government agency.
The ship’s owner added that “the vessel and its passengers will now be positioned to a port where the vessel’s bottom damages can be assessed, and the passengers will be taken to a port from which they can be flown back home.”
There was no immediate comment from the tour company that organized the trip, Australia-based Aurora Expeditions.
Earlier Thursday, Aurora Expeditions said that three passengers had become infected with COVID-19 on the ship.