COPENHAGEN (Reuters) – A cruise ship carrying 206 people has run aground in a remote location in eastern Greenland and was not immediately able to free itself, the Danish military’s Joint Arctic Command (JAC) said on Tuesday.
The Ocean Explorer luxury cruise vessel ran aground on Monday in Alpefjord in a national park some 1,400 km (870 miles) northeast of Greenland’s capital Nuuk, the JAC said in a statement.
There were no reports of injuries and there was no immediate risk of harm to those on board nor to the environment, it added.
“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,” the JAC head of operations, Commander Brian Jensen, said in the statement.
“However, in this specific situation, we do not see any immediate danger to human life or the environment, which is reassuring,” he added.
The JAC said its nearest unit was an inspection vessel located some 1,200 nautical miles away at the time of the incident, meaning it could reach the grounded ship Friday morning local time at the earliest.
The Arctic command said it had asked a cruise ship located nearer to the Ocean Explorer to stay in the area so that it would be able to assist in case the situation changes.
(Reporting by Louise Breusch Rasmussen, editing by Terje Solsvik)
