The cruise ship Ocean Explorer, operated by Australian company Aurora Expeditions, has now been pulled free after being stuck in Alpefjord off Greenland's remote east coast on 11 September, 2023. Photo: SIRIUS/Arctic Command
By Dearbail Jordan for the BBC
A luxury cruise ship that has been stuck in the mud in Greenland since Monday has finally been pulled free.
The Ocean Explorer and its 206 passengers and crew, including three New Zealanders, were rescued on Thursday by a Greenland research trawler after it was grounded within the Northeast Greenland National Park.
The boat's owner, SunStone, said there were no injuries to anyone onboard.
However, tour operator Aurora Expeditions said a small number of people had come down with Covid-19.
The Ocean Explorer became stuck in mud and silt above the Arctic Circle in Alpefjord, 1,400 km (870 miles) northeast of Greenland's capital Nuuk. A number of attempts were made to free the ship during high tide but they failed.
The Danish military's Joint Arctic Command said an inspection vessel had been due to arrive at the scene on Friday.
The ship was eventually dislodged "based on a pull" from a Greenland government-owned trawler called Tarajoq, which means "salt" in Greenlandic, as well as Ocean Explorer's own power.
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."
There had been no pollution to the environment and no breach of the hull, it added.
The 112 passengers and 94 crew on the Australian tour operator's cruise had set off from Norway on 2 September and were due to return on 22 September.
Many of the passengers were from Australia, as well as New Zealand, the UK, South Korea and the US. Steven Fraser and Gina Hill, a retired couple on board the Ocean Explorer, said passengers' spirits were high despite being stranded.
Mr Fraser, who caught Covid during the trip, told The Sydney Morning Herald: "It's a little bit frustrating, but we are in a beautiful part of the world. We're sitting right near the glacier when we open our window."
Aurora Expeditions said earlier this week that three people had contracted the virus but were being kept in isolation.
The Northeast Greenland National Park is nearly the same size as France and Spain combined and is famed for its fjords, icebergs and mountains.
It is also home to wildlife such as polar bears, muskoxen and the elusive narwhal.
- This story was first published in the BBC
