Cruise ship stranded with thousands of tourists released in the Dominican Republic

A cruise ship stranded in the Dominican Republic, with thousands of tourists on board, was released early Tuesday “without major setbacks”, after more than eight hours of rescue work, authorities said.

The Norwegian Escape, which ran aground on Monday shortly after sailing from a pier in Puerto Plata, about 200 km from Santo Domingo, was able to “be rescued without major setbacks and both tourists on board and its crew were unharmed,” the Navy said via social media.

The ship, which is heading to Saint Thomas, with some 3,000 tourists and more than 1,600 crew members, was returned to Puerto Plata for inspection before continuing its route.

The Navy appointed a commission, composed of maritime, port and shipping company authorities, to investigate “the factors that affected the stranding of the cruise ship”.

The commander of the Dominican Navy, Vice Admiral Ramón Betances Hernández, told journalists on Monday that the ship ran aground due to “a great wind” that occurred in the afternoon, “about 30 knots” (about 56 km/h - 7 out of 12 on the Beaufort scale).

The boat was built in 2015 with a capacity for 4,266 passengers and a crew of 1,733 people, says the tourism company on its website.

Puerto Plata, located on the northern coast of the Dominican Atlantic, is known for its paradisiacal beaches, touted as the “Amber Coast” and “Bride of the Atlantic”.

Cruise ships arrive frequently in the Dominican Republic, a country of 10 million inhabitants that finds tourism one of its main sources of income.

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