Press Release
September 13, 2023
On Monday, September 11th, 2023, the Expedition Cruise vessel OCEAN EXPLORER, a vessel in SunStone’s INFINITY class, went aground in a fjord in East Greenland.
The vessel, which is on charter to Aurora Expeditions in Australia, began its cruise on September 2nd, 2023, in Kirkenes, Norway and was scheduled to arrive in Bergen, Norway on September 22nd, 2023.
The vessel has a total of 206 persons onboard, 112 passengers and 94 crew. There are no injuries to anyone onboard, no breach of the hull and no pollution. All persons onboard the vessel are safe, and all services onboard are fully functional. The mood and spirit among the passengers are positive.
The vessel tried to free itself at high tide, however, this has not been successful. Based on this, a towage contract has been entered into with “Grønlands Naturinstitut” in Nuuk, Greenland for their research vessel TARAJOQ. This vessel has arrived at the location of the OCEAN EXPLORER. During tomorrow the TARAJOQ will attempt to free the OCEAN EXPLORER.
Other vessels have also been sourced in case this attempt is unsuccessful, and such vessel(s) will arrive by Friday/Saturday. It has not yet been decided where the vessel, after being freed, will go to offload passengers, and where it will be going for survey and repair.
Any questions about the cruise should be addressed to Aurora Expeditions
mheath@auroraexpeditions.com.au
The OCEAN EXPLORER specifications:
Built 2021
LOA 104m
WIDTH 18m
Passenger cabins 77
Passengers 151
Crew 95
Flag Bahamas
Classification Society BureauVeritas
Owner Explorer Owner Ltd., Bahamas
Charterer Aurora Expeditions, Australia
Technical management Anglo Eastern CruiseManagement, Inc., Miami
Hotel Management AngloEastern Leisure Management, Inc., Miami