Attempts by a fishing vessel to pull free a luxury cruise ship carrying 206 people — including about 90 Australians — in a remote region of Greenland have failed.
The fishing trawler owned by Greenland's government used a high tide to try to release the Bahamas-flagged Ocean Explorer that ran aground in the world's northernmost national park, on Wednesday (Thursday AEST).
The Danish military's Joint Arctic Command (JAC) confirmed after an inspection of the stranded vessel attempts to free it were successful.
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"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," the JAC said in a statement.
The priority now was getting the Danish navy's Knud Rasmussen inspection vessel to the site.
The JAC said it was expected to arrive by Friday afternoon local time.
The cruise ship ran aground above the Arctic Circle on Monday in Alpefjord, which is in the Northeast Greenland National Park.
Australian cruise operator Aurora Expeditions told 9news.com.au about 90 Australians were on board the Ocean Explorer.
Liz, from Wodonga in Victoria, was one of them and told Today this morning about the lead-up to the cruise ship running aground.
"We were standing on our balcony because we had just taken off from the glacier and we realised very quickly that we were about to get stuck in the mud," she said.
"So having been a bit of a boatie myself, you could feel the pull of the boat as we pulled up and realised we were in trouble straight away."
The Northeast Greenland National Park covers 972,000 square kilometres, almost as much land as France and Spain combined, and approximately 80 per cent is permanently covered by an ice sheet, according to the Visit Greenland tourism board.
Alpefjord sits in a remote corner of Greenland, some 240 kilometres away from the closest settlement, Ittoqqortoormiit, which itself is nearly 1,400 kilometres 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.
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Aurora Expeditions said on Wednesday 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.
Aurora Expeditions has been contacted about reported cases of COVID-19 aboard the ship.
Sydney couple Steven Fraser — who has come down with COVID-19 — and Gina Hill said the expedition crew was occupying passengers with talks and the restaurant was still operating.
"Everyone's in good spirits," Fraser 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."
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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.
The JAC said the passengers on the Ocean Explorer were "a mix" of tourists from Australia, New Zealand, Britain, the United States and South Korea.
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 JAC 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 more than 2,000 kilometres 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.
