A third attempt to free a cruise ship that has run aground in Greenland has failed.
There are a total of 206 people on board. Some have contracted the coronavirus.
The tide was thought to facilitate the third attempt to pull the grounded cruise ship MV Ocean Explorer free on Thursday after two failed attempts earlier this week.
“Unfortunately, the attempt was not successful,” announces the Danish Arctic Command, which is coordinating the effort.
The plan is now for a larger inspection vessel, Knud Rasmussen, to go to the site to help. It is expected to arrive on Friday evening as it has been forced to slow down due to weather conditions.
The cruise ship ran aground on Monday in Alpefjord in the Greenland National Park. Alpefjord is around 24 kilometers from the nearest residential area Ittoqqortoormiit, which in turn is closer to 140 kilometers from the capital Nuuk.
The ship has passengers from Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, Great Britain and the United States. On board there are several restaurants, 77 cabins, 151 passenger beds and 99 beds for staff.
The Australian newspaper The Sydney Morning Herald has spoken to passengers who say that many on board are “well-to-do elderly people”, and that everyone is in good spirits.
– We have a few covid cases, but there is a doctor on board, says Steven Fraser to the newspaper.
According to the Australian shipping company Aurora Expedition, the infected passengers have been isolated.
The police in Greenland are investigating how the ship could have run aground and whether any violations of the law can be suspected, according to the Greenlandic newspaper Sermitsiaq.