• The ship struck a reef near Lae, Papua New Guinea, with 124 people on board.
• Attempts to refloat the vessel failed, leading to a full cancellation of the tour.
• Passengers are being flown back to Australia via chartered flights from Papua New Guinea.
• The vessel is under investigation for this grounding and a previous passenger death.

The Coral Adventurer, an Australian expedition cruise ship, ran aground on a coral reef off the eastern coast of Papua New Guinea early on Saturday, December 27, 2025. The vessel was carrying 80 passengers and 44 crew members at the time it struck the reef near Dregerhafen Point, approximately 60 miles from the city of Lae. While no injuries were reported among those on board, the incident led to the immediate cancellation of the remaining voyage.

Initial attempts to free the ship were unsuccessful. On Sunday, December 28, a tug boat was dispatched to the site but failed to pull the vessel off the reef. Consequently, the operator, Coral Expeditions, decided to end the tour a day early. The company arranged for all passengers to be repatriated via charter flights to Cairns, Australia, where the cruise had originally departed on December 18. Despite the grounding, initial inspections by the crew suggested that the ship’s hull remained intact, though a six-degree list was reported.

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority has since detained the ship, citing concerns over its seaworthiness and potential failures in safety management protocols. This grounding marks a second major incident for the Coral Adventurer in recent months. In October 2025, the ship was involved in a tragic event where an 80-year-old passenger, Suzanne Rees, was found dead on Lizard Island after being left behind during a hiking excursion. That previous incident is still under investigation by multiple authorities. The Papua New Guinea National Maritime Safety Authority and the Australian Transport Safety Bureau have launched formal investigations into this latest grounding to determine why the ship navigated a hazardous route known to local operators for its shallow reefs.