A fishing vessel owned by Greenland’s government was hoping to use a high tide to pull free the Ocean Explorer cruise ship, which ran aground in the world’s northernmost national park Monday. The ship is carrying 206 people, who were all reported fine and having a “lifetime experience,” according to Capt. Flemming Madsen of the Danish Joint Arctic Command.
The scientific fishing vessel was scheduled to arrive later Wednesday and would attempt to pull the 104.4-metre-long and 18-metre-wide ship free. A Danish navy ship was about 1,200 nautical miles (more than 2,000 km) away and was heading to the site and could be expected to reach the grounded ship as soon as Friday.
Operated by Australian-based Aurora Expeditions, Ocean Explorer ran aground in Alpefjord in the Northeast Greenland National Park, which is known for icebergs and the musk oxen that roam the coast. The crew made two failed attempts to get the ship to float free on its own during high tide.
In a statement, the cruise company said the passengers and crew members were safe and well and that there was “no immediate danger to themselves, the vessel, or the surrounding environment.”
“We are actively engaged in efforts to free the MV Ocean Explorer from its grounding. Our foremost commitment is to ensure the vessel’s recovery without compromising safety,” the statement said.
Located across from the ice sheet that covers the world’s largest island, Alpefjord sits in a remote corner of Greenland, some 240 km away from the closest settlement, Ittoqqortoormiit, which itself is nearly 1,400 km 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 with fjords, the waterways packed with icebergs of different sizes and glaciers jutting out into the sea.
Passengers on the Ocean Explorer are “a mix” of tourists from Australia, New Zealand, Britain, the US, and South Korea.
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 Ocean Explorer was built in 2021 and is owned by Copenhagen SunStone Ships, which is part of Denmark’s SunStone Group. It has an inverted bow, shaped like the one on a submarine. It has 77 cabins, 151 passenger beds and 99 beds for crew, and several restaurants, according to the Sunstone Group website.
The Joint Arctic Command said there were other ships in the vicinity of the stranded cruise liner and “if the need arises, personnel from the Sirius Dog Sled Patrol can be at the accident site within an hour and a half.”
On Tuesday, members of the Sirius Dog Sled Patrol, a Danish naval unit that conducts long-range reconnaissance and enforces Danish sovereignty in the Arctic wilderness, visited the passengers and explained the situation, “which calmed them down as some were anxious,” said Madsen, who was the on-duty officer for the Joint Arctic Command.