An expedition cruise vessel has been freed after being grounded for three days off of Greenland.

The 102-berth Ocean Explorer (built 2021), owned by SunStone Ships and chartered by Australia-based Aurora Expeditions, ran aground on Monday in Alpefjord in Northeast Greenland National Park, as TradeWinds has reported.

Cruise ship aground in Greenland waits for rescue vessels to arrive
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The vessel, which had 206 passengers onboard, was refloated with the combination of a pull by the 2,896-gt Tarajoq (built 2021), a Greenland Institute of Natural Resources fishing research ship, and the Ocean Explorer’s own power, SunStone said.

“There have not been any injuries to any person onboard, no pollution of the environment and no breach of the hull,” the shipowner said in a statement.

Expedition vessels in the area that are operated by Quark Expeditions, Silver Sea Cruises and Hurtigruten offered assistance to the Ocean Explorer, but the help was not needed, SunStone said.

“We would like to thank our charterer Aurora Expeditions as well as all their passengers for an excellent cooperation in this unexpected and difficult circumstance,” SunStone said.

“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.”

The ship began the voyage on 2 September in Kirkenes in Arctic Norway and was due to return to the Norwegian port of Bergen on 22 September, SunStone said.

Sunstone also thanked Anglo Eastern Cruise Management, the ship’s Miami-based technical manager, for its help in freeing the Bahamas-flagged ship without any harm to anyone onboard or the environment.

Aurora said on Thursday that three passengers on the Ocean Explorer had Covid-19, but they were kept in isolation and cared for by the ship’s doctor, medical team and crew, the Associated Press reported.

Commander 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.

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