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Passengers aboard a cruise ship that ran aground off the coast of Papua New Guinea (PNG) will be flown back to Australia.
Around 124 people, including 44 crew members, were aboard the Coral Adventurer when it hit a coral reef off the coast of the country early on Saturday morning. There were no casualties onboard.
The 80 passengers on the ship who left from Cairns, in northern Australia, will be flown back home from the city of Lae after efforts to reground the vessel failed, ABC reports.
PNG Maritime Rescue Chief Search and Rescue Coordinator, Ben Keri, told ABC that attempts to free the ship using its own engines and a tug boat were unsuccessful.
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) said it had started a safety investigation into the incident.
"Should a critical safety issue be identified at any time during the investigation, the ATSB will immediately notify the operators of the ship and other relevant parties so that appropriate and timely safety action can be taken," the agency said in a statement.
"A final report will be published at the conclusion of the investigation."
Police in PNG said the hull of the ship did not suffer major damage.
The incident came just weeks after an elderly passenger on the ship died after being left behind on a remote island.
Suzanne Rees, 80, was hiking on Lizard Island with other passengers from the Coral Adventurer when she started feeling unwell and became separated from the group.
Believing she had made her way back to the ship alone, her fellow hikers returned to the vessel and it left the island without her.
The crew realised she was missing and returned to the island to look for her. But a day later, on 25 October, Ms Rees was found dead.
An investigation into the incident is ongoing.
Ms Rees' daughter, Katherine Rees, has previously said that the family was “shocked and saddened that the Coral Adventurer left Lizard Island after an organised excursion without my mum, Suzanne.”
“From the little we have been told, it seems that there was a failure of care and common sense,” she told The Australian.
“I hope that the coronial inquiry will find out what the company should have done that might have saved Mum’s life,” the daughter said.
The CEO of Coral Expeditions, Mark Fifield, said that the company offered its full support to the Rees family and cancelled the remainder of the voyage.
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