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A Luxury Cruise Ship, Stuck Off Greenland’s Coast for 3 Days, Is Pulled Free

The Ocean Explorer had been traveling toward Northeast Greenland National Park when it ran aground on Monday, officials said. The ship was pulled free on Thursday.

The Ocean Explorer ship floats on blue waters near a frosted mountain.

By Eduardo Medina

A luxury cruise ship that had been stuck for three days after running aground off the coast of Greenland was pulled free on Thursday morning, the authorities said.

The ship, the Ocean Explorer, had been carrying 206 passengers and crew members and was headed toward Alpefjord, in a remote corner of Greenland. The ship’s destination was the Northeast Greenland National Park, the world’s northernmost national park, which is home to icebergs, glaciers and high mountains.

The Joint Arctic Command, which is part of Denmark’s defense forces, and SunStone Maritime Group , the coordinators of the rescue operation, said in statements on Thursday that the ship had been pulled free by a vessel named Tarajoq.

There were no reported injuries on board the ship, and there was no threat to the environment. The ship’s operator, Aurora Expeditions, a cruise company based in Australia, said in a statement on Thursday that “all onboard are safe” and that it appreciated “the patience and understanding of our passengers during this process.”

“We are waiting on the relevant authorities for advice regarding our next steps,” the company said.

The rescue came after an unsuccessful attempt on Wednesday, in which a fishing research vessel owned by the government of Greenland tried and failed to pull free the Ocean Explorer at high tide. Bad weather also slowed the government’s rescue operations, officials said.

Before the ship was freed, the Joint Arctic Command had said that “the crew and passengers are in a difficult situation, but after the circumstances, the atmosphere on the ship is good and everyone on board is fine.”

It was unclear what caused the ship to run aground near Greenland, which is part of Denmark but has autonomy over most domestic affairs. Officials said there were no indications that the ship had suffered serious damage to its foundation.

Cruises around Greenland have become increasingly popular with tourists seeking adventure and comfort aboard ships packed with amenities.The Ocean Explorer, built in 2021, was made to “travel to the world’s most remote destinations,” according to Aurora Expeditions’ website .

Prices for a 17-day expedition that tours Greenland start at more than $15,000 per person. The ship has a gym, a Jacuzzi and spacious suites that are 640 square feet, offering guests two large master bathrooms, one master bedroom and expansive views of the sea .

Photos of the stuck Ocean Explorer on Wednesday showed a blue-and-white ship floating in waters with frosted mountain peaks in the distance.

Extreme cold did not appear to be a major issue for stranded passengers on Wednesday: The temperature in the area was around 2.2 degrees Celsius, or about 36 degrees Fahrenheit, that night.

Jenny Gross contributed reporting.

Eduardo Medina is a reporter covering breaking news. More about Eduardo Medina

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Ocean Explorer, a cruise ship operated by Aurora Expeditions, was 11 days into a month-long voyage when it grounded in a remote area of Northeast Greenland National Park on Monday afternoon.

Cruise ship freed after being stranded in Greenland for days

More than 200 people were stranded on the ship until a fishing research vessel pulled it free.

A luxury cruise ship that had been stranded in remote Greenland since Monday was freed Thursday with an assist from a fishing research vessel, Danish authorities said.

The Joint Arctic Command, part of Danish defense forces, said in a statement that the expedition cruise ship was pulled free by the Tarajoq, which is operated by the Greenland Institute of Natural Resources. The Ocean Explorer, carrying 206 passengers and crew on a voyage to observe rugged glacial terrain, ran aground in an area advertised as the largest and northernmost national park in the world.

Authorities were notified Monday afternoon local time that the ship ran around in the Alpefjord in Northeast Greenland National Park, known for picturesque glaciers, icebergs and muskoxen that roam the coast. Authorities said there have been no injuries aboard the Ocean Explorer and the incident does not pose a threat to the environment.

However, three passengers have covid-19, according to Aurora Expeditions, an Australian-based cruise line that owns and operates the Bahamas-flagged ship. The cruise line said in a statement the passengers have been in isolation and were receiving treatment from its medical teams and crew members.

“All other passengers, Expedition team and crew remain safe and healthy,” Ocean Explorer officials said in a Wednesday statement.

In the days before the ship was freed, Danish authorities scrambled to find solutions, including contacting nearby ships and dispatching local units. In an update Arctic Command posted to Facebook on Wednesday, it said the Tarajoq had arrived but failed in an early attempt to pull the cruise ship free at high tide. The Arctic Command had also called for a patrol vessel to aid the recovery of the cruise ship, but it was not on schedule to arrive until Friday.

“There is a long way for immediate help, our units are far from that and the weather can be very unfavorable,” Captain Brian Jensen of the Arctic Command said in the statement, which was translated into English on Facebook. “Of course, we are following the situation closely and take this incident very seriously,” Jensen added.

The Ocean Explorer is designed for travel to remote destinations across the world, according to the company’s website . The company told AP in a statement its passengers and crew were not in danger, and ensuring a safe recovery was its “foremost commitment.”

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Stranded cruise ship the Ocean Explorer freed three days after running aground in Greenland

The ship, which has passengers from around the world on board, was pulled free from mud and silt by a fishing vessel.

Thursday 14 September 2023 14:04, UK

A luxury cruise ship has been freed after it ran aground in northwestern Greenland.

The Ocean Explorer - which has 206 passengers on board - got stuck in mud and silt on Monday in Alpefjord, a national park 870 miles (1,400km) northeast of Greenland's capital Nuuk, the Danish military's Joint Arctic Command (JAC) said.

After three failed attempts to free the ship, it was "successfully" pulled free by a fishing vessel, Tarajoq, at high tide.

SunStone Ships, the vessel's owner, said the ship will be taken to a port to assess any damage, while the passengers will be flown home.

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

Before the rescue, the JAC had sent its larger inspection vessel, Knud Rasmussen, to the site, which was expected to arrive on Friday evening .

'Everyone's in good spirits'

The Ocean Explorer, which is operated by Australia-based Aurora Expeditions, left the Norwegian port of Bronnoysund on 6 September, according to tracking data from MarineTraffic.com.

The ship has 77 cabins, 151 passenger beds and 99 beds for crew.

There are also several restaurants, an infinity pool and a two-level lounge with a piano bar and panoramic windows at the bow of the ship, according to Ulstein, the company that built it.

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Some of those on board are from Australia, UK, New Zealand, US and South Korea, and were described by passengers Steven Fraser and Gina Hill as "a lot of wealthy older people".

Earlier on Thursday, the retired couple from Australia told the Sydney Morning Herald that "everyone's in good spirits".

"It's a little bit frustrating, but we are in a beautiful part of the world," Mr Fraser was quoted as saying.

Mr Fraser said he was one of a number of passengers who had tested positive for COVID, but there is a doctor on board.

Lisa, another passenger, told CNN that her biggest fear at the moment is running out of alcohol, but if the worst did happen, she had a back-up plan.

"I had swimming lessons before I came and I'm a good swimmer," she said.

"So look out: I could be swimming back to Iceland."

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Members of the Sirius Dog Sled Patrol - a Danish naval unit that conducts long-range reconnaissance and enforces Danish sovereignty in the Arctic wilderness - were in the vicinity of the stranded ship.

They visited on Tuesday and reported that everyone on board was fine and no damage to the vessel had been reported.

Over 200 people are stuck in a remote part of Greenland after their luxury cruise ship ran aground. Their rescuers in the Arctic say the 'nearest help is far away.'

Aurora Expeditions' Ocean Explorer cruise ship is stuck in Greenland after running aground.
The luxury cruise was carrying 206 passengers when it was grounded.
Denmark's Joint Arctic Command said the earliest its closest ship can arrive is Friday.

A luxury cruise carrying 206 passengers is now stuck in a remote part of Greenland, an autonomous Danish territory, after it ran aground.

"On Monday afternoon West Greenlandic time, the Arctic Command received a message that the cruise ship Ocean Explorer was grounded in the Alpefjord in Northeast Greenland, and that the ship is not immediately able to be freed by its own help," Denmark's Joint Arctic Command said in a statement on Tuesday.

Brian Jensen, the head of operations for the Joint Arctic Command, said in the statement that the situation "is of course worrisome."

"The nearest help is far away, our units are far away, and the weather can be very unfavorable," Jensen said. "However, in this specific situation, we do not see any immediate danger to human life or the environment, which is reassuring."

"Of course, we are following the situation closely and take this incident very seriously," he continued.

According to the Joint Arctic Command's statement on Tuesday morning, their closest ship, the inspection vessel Knud Rasmussen, is approximately 1,200 nautical miles away from the Ocean Explorer.

Watch: What's behind Russia's Arctic fleet and Putin's plans for the North Pole

Main content

Fishing trawler frees stranded luxury cruise ship in Greenland

View of the Ocean Explorer, a luxury cruise ship carrying 206 people that ran aground, in Alpefjord, Greenland, September 13, 2023.

A luxury cruise ship that was stuck in a remote part of Greenland for three days after running aground with 206 people on board has been pulled free by a fishing trawler.

The Ocean Explorer cruise vessel was refloated on Thursday, the Danish navy and ship owner said, after having been stuck since Monday in mud and silt in the Alpefjord national park, some 1,400km (870 miles) northeast of Greenland’s capital Nuuk.

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“The Ocean Explorer was pulled free,” the Royal Danish Navy’s Joint Arctic Command in Greenland said.

The Joint Arctic Command confirmed that the ship had been pulled free by the Tarajoq, a trawler and research vessel that made a failed attempt to do so on Wednesday.

The Greenlandic fisheries research vessel was able to help tug the ship free, said the cruise ship’s owner, SunStone Maritime Group.

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

“We have just successfully become free now … We are absolutely elated,” Gina Hill, an Australian passenger on board the ship, told Reuters on Thursday.

The Bahamas-flagged cruise ship leaned to the side during the operation and passengers were not allowed to go outside, Hill said.

According to Australian media reports, three people on board have tested positive for COVID-19.

Most of the tourists were from Australia, Britain, New Zealand, South Korea and the United States.

There are few hydrological surveys of the area where the cruise ship ran aground, making it difficult to assess the sea depths.

Danish police have opened a preliminary investigation into the grounding to determine if there was any wrongdoing.

The Ocean Explorer will be taken to a port to assess any damage, while the passengers will be flown home, said SunStone.

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

Greenland, a semi-sovereign territory of Denmark in the North Atlantic Ocean with a population of just 57,000, attracts tourists with its rugged landscape and a vast ice cap that covers much of the island.

Trawler's attempt fails to free grounded cruise ship in Greenland

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Luxury cruise ship carrying 206 people runs aground in remote Greenland

Reporting by Essi Lehto in Helsinki and Louise Rasmussen in Copenhagen, writing by Terje Solsvik; editing by Christina Fincher and Grant McCool

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Essi covers business, economy and politics in Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and the Baltic countries. Often writing about Finland's relationship with neighbouring Russia, Finland and Sweden as new NATO members, border issues, Lapland and other matters of the Northernmost part of the world. Passionate about speed, accuracy and finding the stories that matter.

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Fishing trawler fails to free cruise ship grounded in Greenland with 85 Australians on board

A cruiseship is stuck in low water, two smaller boats have come up to it, a rugged hillside is in the background

A fishing trawler's attempt to free a luxury cruise ship that ran aground two days ago in a remote part of Greenland has failed, leaving the vessel and 206 people on board still stranded.

Key points:

The ship has been stuck in Alpefjord national park in Greenland since Monday
A fish trawler failed to pull the ship free during high tide, Danish military said
85 Australians are on the ship, a Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesperson said

Among those on board are 85 Australians, according to a Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesperson.

The Ocean Explorer has been stuck since Monday in mud and silt in the Alpefjord national park, some 1,400 kilometres north-east of Greenland's capital Nuuk, Denmark's armed forces said.

The large trawler sought to pull the cruise ship free during high tide, but the attempt ultimately failed, the Danish military's Joint Arctic Command (JAC) said in a statement.

Armed forces personnel stationed in Greenland have inspected the Ocean Explorer and spoken to those on board, concluding that they were in good condition.

"The crew and passengers are in a difficult situation, but under the circumstances the atmosphere on the ship is good and everyone on board is doing well," the JAC said.

The Danish navy's Knud Rasmussen patrol vessel was expected to arrive at the Alpefjord site on Friday afternoon local time, the JAC said.

A cruiseship sits in the water with snow-capped mountains in the background

"If everything goes well, they will help the ship get out of this emergency that they're in at this moment. But it depends on how everything looks when they arrive on Friday so we need to see how it goes," a JAC spokesperson said.

The passengers and crew remained safe on board, Australian travel operator Aurora Expeditions said earlier.

"There is no immediate danger to themselves, the vessel or the surrounding environment," Sydney-based Aurora said in a statement.

Photos taken by the Danish military showed the Ocean Explorer sitting upright in calm waters with the sun shining.

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Cruise ship runs aground in Greenland with 206 passengers onboard

There are no reports of injuries on the Ocean Explorer, which was grounded in the remote Northeast Greenland National Park

A cruise ship with 206 passengers and crew onboard has run aground in north-west Greenland , and remained stuck even after high tide.

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”.

“Our units are far away, and the weather can be very unfavourable,” he said in a statement.

The closest Danish navy ship was about 1,200 nautical miles (1,380 miles or 2,200km) away, he said, adding it was heading to the site and could be expected at the grounded ship as soon as Friday.

The 104-metre (343ft) long and 18-metre wide Ocean Explorer ran aground on Monday in Alpefjord in the Northeast Greenland National Park. It is the world’s largest and most northerly national park and is known for icebergs and the musk oxen that roam the coast.

Authorities have been in contact with another cruise ship in the area and it had been asked to remain nearby to assist should the situation develop. The other cruise ship was not identified.

The grounded cruise ship might also get free on its own when the tide is high, Greenland television KNR reported. “Regardless, the most important thing for us is that everyone gets to safety,” Jensen said.

Later on Tuesday the Joint Arctic Command said on its Facebook page that the ship was still stuck despite the tide.

“There are still no reports that human life or the environment is in acute danger,” it added.

The primary mission of the Joint Arctic Command is to ensure Danish sovereignty by monitoring the area around the Faroe Islands and Greenland, two semi-independent territories that are part of the Danish realm.

A fishing vessel in Greenland will try to free a cruise ship that ran aground with 206 people

A view of the Ocean Explorer, a Bahamas-flagged Norwegian cruise ship with 206 passengers and crew, which has run aground in northwestern Greenland, on Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2023. The 104.4-meter (343-foot) long and 18-meter (60 foot) wide Ocean Explorer ran aground on Monday in Alpefjord in the Northeast Greenland National Park. It’s the world’s largest and most northerly national park and is known for icebergs and the musk oxen that roam the coast. According to authorities no one on board was in danger and no damage has been reported. (SIRIUS/Joint Arctic Command via AP)

An aerial photo shows the Ocean Explorer, a Bahamas-flagged Norwegian cruise ship with 206 passengers and crew, which has run aground in northwestern Greenland, on Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2023. The 104.4-meter (343-foot) long and 18-meter (60 foot) wide Ocean Explorer ran aground on Monday in Alpefjord in the Northeast Greenland National Park. It’s the world’s largest and most northerly national park and is known for icebergs and the musk oxen that roam the coast. According to authorities no one on board was in danger and no damage has been reported. (Danish Air Force/Joint Arctic Command via AP)

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COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — A fishing vessel owned by Greenland’s government will attempt to use a high tide to pull free a Bahamas-flagged luxury cruise ship carrying 206 people that ran aground in the world’s northernmost national park, authorities said.

Capt. Flemming Madsen of the Danish Joint Arctic Command told The Associated Press that the passengers and crew on the ship stranded in northwestern Greenland were doing fine and ”all I can say is that they got a lifetime experience.”

The scientific fishing vessel was scheduled to arrive later Wednesday and would attempt when the conditions were right to pull the 104.4-meter- (343-foot) long and 18-meter- (60-foot) wide MV Ocean Explorer free.

The cruise ship ran aground above the Arctic Circle Monday in Alpefjord, which is in the Northeast Greenland National Park. The park covers 972,000 square kilometers (603,973 square miles), almost as much land as France and Spain combined, and approximately 80% is permanently covered by an ice sheet , according to the Visit Greenland tourism board.

Alpefjord sits in a remote corner of Greenland, some 240 kilometers (149 miles) away from the closest settlement, Ittoqqortoormiit, which itself is nearly 1,400 kilometers (870 miles) from the country’s capital, Nuuk.

The Ocean Explorer’s crew made two failed attempts to get the ship to float free on its own during high tide.

In a statement, Australia-based Aurora Expeditions, which operates the ship, 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.

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.

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. Greenland is a semi-independent territory that is part of the Danish realm, as are the Faeroe Islands.

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 weather in the region Wednesday featured sun, a clear blue sky and a temperature around 5 degrees Celsius (41 degrees Fahrenheit), according to the Danish Meteorological Institute.

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,” Madsen, who was the on-duty officer for the Joint Arctic Command, said.

The command, which was coordinating the operation to free the cruise ship, said the nearest Danish navy ship was about 1,200 nautical miles (more than 2,000 kilometers or 1,380 miles) away. It was heading to the site and could be expected to reach the grounded ship as soon as Friday.

The primary mission of the Joint Arctic Command is to ensure Danish sovereignty by monitoring the area around the Faeroe Islands and Greenland, including the Arctic Ocean in the north.

This version has been corrected to show the cruise ship is owned by a Danish group, not Norwegian.

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Stranded cruise ship off Greenland shows risks of more traffic in remote Arctic

COPENHAGEN - The grounding of a luxury cruise ship off the coast of Greenland on Monday highlighted the irony of touring the fast-warming Arctic on a vessel powered by fossil fuels, the main culprit in climate change.

But the incident also underscores the recent growth of marine traffic in the region, a trend that raises the risk of accidents and pollution in hard-to-reach places.

Global warming is destroying vast tracts of polar ice, opening previously frozen sea routes through the Arctic for longer periods.

In the case of Greenland, cruise ship traffic has risen 50 per cent in the last year, to about 600 ships, according to Mr Brian Jensen of the Danish military’s Joint Arctic Command.

That trend is seen across the Arctic.

“From the period of 2009 to 2018, ship traffic on a pan-Arctic scale doubled,” said Mr Paul Berkman, lead author of a 2022 report on the subject published by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. “Ship traffic is increasing as sea ice is decreasing.”

The impact is being felt on remote ecosystems and communities as ships burning marine diesel, or methane-emitting liquefied natural gas, increasingly criss-cross the top of the globe.

Some studies show the carbon footprint of cruise ships, per passenger, is bigger than that of passenger jets. Globally, maritime transport emits more CO2 than Germany.

More ship traffic also means a higher risk of accidents in remote, poorly mapped areas known for harsh and unpredictable weather conditions.

A 2021 report on Arctic marine disasters showed a 42 per cent increase in accidents between 2005 and 2017 north of 58 degrees latitude, which encompasses the Arctic as well as some sub-arctic territory.

The report acknowledged gaps in the data, noting that not all Arctic states provided information.

More than 40 expedition vessels – smaller ships capable of traversing narrow channels and shallow waters – were exploring the Arctic this summer, led by 20 different operators, according to Cruise Industry News.

Popular routes included those across Canada’s North-west Passage and along the coasts of Greenland, Norway and the Svalbard Archipelago.

Of even greater concern, though, are much larger conventional cruise ships capable of carrying thousands of passengers.

The Icelandic Coast Guard is “very worried” about the rising number of such vessels around Iceland and the Arctic, its spokesman, Mr Asgeir Erlendsson, said.

“If any of those big ships run into trouble, there are many people on board and a rescue mission can take a long time and needs to involve a lot of people,” he said.

“This requires international cooperation and using resources like the fishing fleet if needed. Rescuing with a helicopter, for instance, will be very time consuming under such circumstances.”

The Danish ship sent to rescue people on board the Ocean Explorer is not expected to reach the remote Greenland fjord until Friday.

🇩🇰 FORSØG PÅ AT TRÆKKE KRYDSTOGTSKIB FRI MISLYKKEDES 🇬🇱 UMIARSUAQ TAKORNARIARTAAT NUSUKARLUGU ANIGUISINNIARNERA... Posted by ARKTISK KOMMANDO - Joint Arctic Command on Wednesday, September 13, 2023

Other countries’ Arctic territories are even larger and more difficult to access.

The Canadian Coast Guard has seven or eight icebreakers available each year to serve 162,000km of northern coastline, delivering supplies and providing search-and-rescue support.

Fewer than half of Canada’s primary Arctic shipping corridors have been surveyed to modern standards, said Mr Rashaad Bhamjee, superintendent of navigational programmes for the Canadian Coast Guard.

Less than 16 per cent of its Arctic waters have been properly mapped. “The worst case scenario, for us, would be having a large cruise ship, or a tanker, run aground or breach its hull.”

The need to protect the region from environmental disasters has led some Arctic governments, including Canada, the US and Greenland, to impose bans on oil and gas exploration.

“We simply don’t have the technology or the capacity to respond to any sort of emergency or accident,” Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told Bloomberg Green in an Aug 25 interview about the Arctic.

“You think of Deepwater Horizon, or things that happen in the Gulf of Mexico that at least aren’t hindered by sea ice and incredible remoteness – you couldn’t do it.”

Cargo shipping is also increasing, as melting ice opens routes that can shave days or even weeks off southerly routes.

Russia has made transport through its Northern Sea Route a key pillar of future economic development.

China’s Arctic policy includes a Polar Silk Road to facilitate travel through the region.

Military interest in the region is on the rise since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. All of it spells increased future risks.

Other potential consequences include ships colliding with marine mammals, light and noise pollution, and the spread of diseases to remote Indigenous communities.

In the case of the Ocean Explorer, authorities are hoping for an uneventful resolution in the next few days, after initial attempts to free the ship failed. Its hull is intact, no oil has leaked and, so far, the 206 people on board are safe.

Still, it’s a cautionary tale about the potential for disaster in what is still one of the most remote places on Earth.

“Our worst-case scenario is a large cruise vessel with 8,000 to 9,000 people on board having an emergency in an isolated area,” said Mr Tore Wangsfjord, chief of operations at the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre North-Norway, which handles search-and-rescue operations over an area extending to the North Pole.

Of the Ocean Explorer, he added: “Multiply the number of people on board by 25, and you can imagine the situation.” BLOOMBERG

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Hundreds Of Passengers Stranded After Cruise Ship Runs Aground In Greenland

M ore than 200 passengers will be trapped aboard a luxury cruise ship until at least Friday after it ran aground in a remote part of Greenland Monday afternoon and crew attempts to free the vessel from a bed of sediment, silt and sand have been unsuccessful so far.

An expedition cruise ship called the Ocean Explorer became stuck Monday around noon, more than 850 miles from Nuuk, the capital of Greenland, in an area Brian Jensen of the Danish military’s Joint Arctic Command described in a statement as having "no population."

Rescue efforts aren't expected to reach the scene until Friday, but a military flight over the ship confirmed its hull is intact, there is no oil spilling from the vessel and there have been no injuries.

Aurora Expeditions, the ship’s operator, said there is no immediate danger to anyone on board or to the surrounding environment, and there are enough supplies aboard the ship to last until the Danish naval vessel that has been diverted to help arrives.

Crew members attempted to float clear of land at several high tides but were unsuccessful because the boat is held in place by suction from mud, Jensen told Bloomberg .

There are 206 people on board.

Crucial Quote

"The nearest help is far away, our units are far away, and the weather can be very unfavorable," Jensen said . "However, in this specific situation, we do not see any immediate danger to human life or the environment.”

Surprising Fact

On average, 2.5 cruise ships run aground per year, the New York Times reported in 2013. Ninety-eight ships hit land between 1972 and 2011.

Key Background

Aurora Expeditions specializes in arctic trips and boasts the Ocean Explorer as able to "travel to the world's most remote destinations" with "cutting-edge technology." Its website says Greenland cruises take passengers to the Arctic Circle and warns the trip is "made for rugged explorers.” The company offers seven different Greenland trips with a minimum duration of 15 days at prices that range from $15,836 to more than $33,000 for a 30-day trip. Travelers visit the Ilulissat Icefjord, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, as well as the Scoresbysund fjord system and the town of Sisimiut.

50%. That's how much the number of cruises around Greenland has risen in the last year, per Bloomberg .

For an increasingly large number of polar cruisers, Greenland and Svalbard in Norway have become the most popular destinations for Arctic tourism. The increasing number of visitors prompted the country's tourism arm, Visit Greenland, to last year announce it would no longer “support the development of conventional cruise tourism," a move several other countries have taken in recent years. The agency said cruise tourism does not contribute to sustainable development and the country will no longer market to the cruise industry. Greenland—a self-governing territory of Denmark—saw a record number of calls in its ports last summer on top of an 89% rise in cruise visits between 2016 and 2018. Other places that have moved to limit or ban cruises include Amsterdam, Barcelona, Venice, Dublin, Santorini and French Polynesia.