Australia: Hundreds of passengers have been stranded on a cruise ship, the Viking Orion, off the Australian coast after finding a potentially harmful growth on its hull.

The Viking Orion was denied permission to dock in Adelaide after authorities discovered “biofoul,” an accumulation of microorganisms, plants, algae, or small animals.

According to Australia’s fisheries department, the fungus, which it called biofoul, was “potentially harmful.” Officials stated that the ship’s hull must be cleared before entering the country.

According to the department’s statements, biofoul management was “a common practise for all arriving international vessels,” and the ship had to be cleaned to avoid “harmful marine organisms” being transported into Australian waters.

“Professional divers were engaged directly by the vessel line or agent to clean the hull while at anchor outside Australian waters,” the department added.

The 14-deck, 930-person ship, which was built in 2018, has reportedly dropped anchor about 27 kilometres off Australia’s coast while the cleaning is done.

In a statement, operator Viking admitted that a “limited amount of standard marine growth was being cleared from the ship’s hull, and this had caused the vessel to miss several stops on this itinerary.”

“Viking is working directly with guests on compensation for the impact of their voyage,” the operator continued.

In addition, the ship’s captain apologised that “the current cruise falls short of your expectations” and added that a member of Viking’s customer relations team would make an “adjusted offer of compensation to guests in the coming days.”

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