Grounded cruise ship carrying thousands refloated

Table Of Content

• What happened to the MV Ocean Explorer?
• Cruise ship that touts its "navigation capabilities" runs aground in Greenland with more than 200 onboard
• A cruise ship passenger was rescued by the Coast Guard after hours in Gulf waters
• Salvage crews have begun removing containers from the ship that collapsed Baltimore’s Key bridge

The couple says the tour overran, and its operator informed the captain that eight passengers were running late. Local media said The Norwegian Escape was on its way to the US Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands. But the Joint Arctic Command also noted in a subsequent statement that the Ocean Explorer was still stuck after a tide came in. The Joint Arctic Command said the earliest the Knud Rasmussen might reach the Ocean Explorer is Friday morning local time. The cruise liner began its current trip on 2 September in Kirkenes in Arctic Norway and was due to return to Bergen, Norway, on 22 September, according to SunStone Ships. Jensen told Greenland broadcaster KNR that the ship is likely to go to Iceland, the closest place with large ports.

What happened to the MV Ocean Explorer?

The Ocean Explorer’s crew made two failed attempts to get the ship to float free on its own during high tide. The ship was designed with luxury, offering "state-of-the-art amenities," including an onboard gym, jacuzzi, lounges, a spa, an atrium, a library and more. For an increasingly large number of polar cruisers, Greenland and Svalbard in Norway have become the most popular destinations for Arctic tourism.

Cruise ship that touts its "navigation capabilities" runs aground in Greenland with more than 200 onboard

The grounded cruise ship might also get free on its own when the tide is high, Greenland television KNR reported. The ship was freed by a fisheries research vessel at high tide, according to the cruise ship's owner, Copenhagen-based SunStone Ships, and the Joint Arctic Command, which coordinated the operation. Travelers visit the Ilulissat Icefjord, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, as well as the Scoresbysund fjord system and the town of Sisimiut. The ship was freed by a fisheries research vessel at high tide, said the cruise ship's owner, Copenhagen-based SunStone Ships, and the Joint Arctic Command, which coordinated the operation.

A cruise ship passenger was rescued by the Coast Guard after hours in Gulf waters

Cruise ship with 206 on board runs aground in Greenland - NBC News

Cruise ship with 206 on board runs aground in Greenland.

Posted: Tue, 12 Sep 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]

Many of the passengers on board are believed to be Australian, along with a mix of tourists from other countries including New Zealand, Britain, the United States and South Korea. Hill said after the crew alerted passengers that there were confirmed cases of Covid, some passengers had chosen to wear masks in the public areas, but others had not. She said the passengers were in good spirits and were being entertained by lectures and stories of expeditions by the crew. The cruise liner began its latest trip Sept. 2 in Kirkenes, in Arctic Norway, and was due to return to Bergen, Norway, on Sept. 22, according to SunStone Ships. It’s a little bit frustrating, but we are in a beautiful part of the world,” Fraser told the paper, adding that he himself had come down with COVID-19 on the ship. Madsen, of Denmark’s Joint Arctic Command, said the passengers on the Ocean Explorer were “a mix” of tourists from Australia, New Zealand, Britain, the United States and South Korea.

More from CBS News

A large cruise ship with thousands of passengers on board has been refloated after running aground off the Dominican Republic. "A cruise ship in trouble in the national park is obviously a worry. The nearest help is far away, our units are far away, and the weather can be very unfavourable," JAC head of operations Commander Brian Jensen said in the statement. The Ocean Explorer ran aground on Monday in Alpefjord in a national park 870 miles (1,400km) northeast of Greenland's capital Nuuk, the Danish military's Joint Arctic Command (JAC) said. The successful rescue operation took place on Thursday, three days after the MV Ocean Explorer ran aground with 206 people on board, authorities and the ship's owner said.

Ocean Explorer: Luxury cruise ship freed after running aground in a Greenland fjord - CNN

Ocean Explorer: Luxury cruise ship freed after running aground in a Greenland fjord.

Posted: Thu, 14 Sep 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]

According to the US-based Norwegian Cruise Line’s website, the Norwegian Escape is nearly 326 metres long (1,070 feet) and weighs 165,000 tonnes. It offers trips to "some of the most wild and remote destinations on the planet", Aurora Expeditions said on its website. Brian Jensen, the head of operations for the Joint Arctic Command, said in the statement that the situation "is of course worrisome." The park is nearly the size of France and Spain combined, and approximately 80 per cent is covered by an ice sheet. With the closest Danish Defence ship over 2,000km away at the time of the incident, help was not expected to arrive until Friday evening. The Sydney Morning Herald quoted a retired Australian couple, Steven Fraser and Gina Hill, as saying there were “a lot of wealthy older people” on board.

Canada and Denmark end decades-long dispute over barren rock in Arctic

Alpefjord is about 240 km from the closest settlement, Ittoqqortoormiit, which is nearly 1,400 km from the country’s capital, Nuuk. On Wednesday, a research ship owned by the Greenland government unsuccessfully attempted to pull the ship off ground during high tide. "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. Greenland, a semi-sovereign territory of Denmark in the north Atlantic with a population of just 57,000, attracts tourists with its rugged landscape and a vast ice cap that covers much of the island.

Salvage crews have begun removing containers from the ship that collapsed Baltimore’s Key bridge

The cruise ship and its passengers will now travel to a port where the damage to the vessel’s bottom can be assessed. The Ocean Explorer cruise vessel had been stuck since Monday in mud and silt in the Alpefjord national park, 870 miles (1,400km) north-east of Nuuk, the capital of Greenland. “There have not been any injuries to anybody on board, no pollution of the environment and no breach of the hull,” SunStone Ships said in a statement. The research vessel that pulled the cruise ship belongs to the Greenland Institute of Natural Resources, a government agency, it said.

Cruise ship runs aground in Greenland with 206 passengers onboard

Officials hope Norwegian Escape, stranded off the north coast of the Dominican Republic, can be refloated at high tide. Authorities have been in contact with another cruise ship in the area and it has been asked to remain nearby to assist in case the situation changes. The primary mission of the Joint Arctic Command is to ensure Danish sovereignty by monitoring the area around the Faroe 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 Faroe Islands. The Ocean Explorer was built in 2021 and is owned by Copenhagen SunStone Ships, which is part of Denmark’s SunStone Group.

Other passengers may face the stress of becoming stranded in remote locations through no fault of their own. Last September, more than 200 people got stuck in a remote part of Greenland after their cruise ship ran aground. It said the cruise ship and its passengers will travel to a port where the damage to the vessel’s bottom can be assessed, and the passengers will be taken to a location from where they can be flown home. There was no immediate comment from the tour company that organized the trip, Australia-based Aurora Expeditions. It said the cruise ship and its passengers will now travel to a port where the damage to the vessel’s bottom can be assessed, and the passengers will be taken to a location from where they can be flown home. It said the cruise ship and its passengers will now travel to a port where the damage to the vessel's bottom can be assessed, and the passengers will be taken to a location from where they can be flown home.

The people onboard “are in a difficult situation, but given the circumstances, the atmosphere on the ship is good, and everyone on board is doing well. There are no signs that the ship was seriously damaged by the grounding,” the Joint Arctic Command said Wednesday. The closest ship available to help the vessel can be there no sooner than Friday morning, assuming the weather holds up, the command said, but officials said they were in contact with another cruise ship to standby should they be needed. The Ocean Explorer expedition has been touted as a cruise ship "purpose-built for expedition travel to the world's most remote destinations," complete with "cutting-edge technology" and its "navigation capabilities." And last November, passengers were stranded at a Brisbane port after a Royal Caribbean ship was overbooked. The São Tomé and Príncipe Coast Guard even took the passengers to the ship, but they weren't able to get on and had to turn back, WPDE reported.

This version has been corrected to show the cruise ship is owned by a Danish group, not Norwegian. Cmdr Brian Jensen of Denmark’s Joint Arctic Command said that nobody on board was in danger and that no damage has been reported, but added that officials “take this incident very seriously”. While officials said the situation remains "difficult," they've "gained assurance that the crew and passengers of Ocean Explorer are in good condition," according to a translation. A cruise ship in the bay in front of the town Ilulissat (a.k.a. Jakobshavn), Disko Bay, Greenland. Most of the stranded passengers didn't have their medication or working credit cards, WPDE said. The Campbells told the news outlet that the ninth passenger was late for another reason — an 80-year-old woman who got a concussion on the island and was hospitalized there.

COPENHAGEN, Denmark — A Bahamas-flagged Norwegian cruise ship with 206 passengers and crew has run aground in northwestern Greenland, authorities said Tuesday, adding that no one on board was in danger and no damage has been reported. COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — A Bahamas-flagged Norwegian cruise ship with 206 passengers and crew has run aground in northwestern Greenland, authorities said Tuesday, adding that no one on board was in danger and no damage has been reported. Dozens of cruise ships sail along Greenland’s coast every year so passengers can admire the picturesque mountainous landscape with fjords, musk oxen, and the waterways packed with icebergs of different sizes and glaciers jutting out into the sea. 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. The cruise ship ran aground Monday above the Arctic Circle in Alpefjord in Northeast Greenland National Park, the world’s northernmost national park. The park is nearly the size of France and Spain combined, and approximately 80% is covered by an ice sheet.