Coral Adventurer is DETAINED after becoming stranded on a coral reef off Papua New Guinea – just weeks after an elderly passenger died after being left behind on Lizard Island

An embattled cruise ship has been detained by authorities just days after it ran aground off the coast of Papua New Guinea during a luxury Christmas cruise.

The Coral Adventurer crashed into a coral reef about 30km off the coast of PNG’s second largest city, Lae, in the early hours of Saturday after departing Cairns on 18 December.

The latest crisis comes just two months after an Australian grandmother died in October after being left behind for a break on a remote island.

The ship had 80 passengers and 43 crew on a 12-night Christmas cruise from Cairns in Far North Queensland when it ran aground.

The passengers, who paid more than $13,000 each, were sent back to Cairns on Tuesday after the ship was stranded on the reef for three-and-a-half days.

‘The Coral Adventurer has been successfully floated and is now at anchor. Initial inspections by certified divers found no significant damage to the ship’s hull, a company spokesperson told the Daily Mail.

‘Divers are continuing their work today to make further assessments of the ship and the local marine environment.’

The ship was detained by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority on ‘reasonable suspicion of unseaworthiness due to potential damage during grounding’.

The Coral Adventurer (above) was detained by the authorities following the latest incident.

Suzanne Rees, 80, died after being left behind on Lizard Island during a Coral Adventurer cruise around Australia

The Coral Adventurer was embarking on its first voyage since the death of NSW grandmother Suzanne Rees, 80, who stayed on Lizard Island during her $80,000-a-ticket circumnavigation of Australia in October.

Ms Rees had been hiking to the top of the Great Barrier Reef island’s highest peak but turned back when she became too tired to continue.

He failed to reboard the ship, raising serious questions about the five-hour delay in launching the search for the missing grandmother.

Multiple investigations into the tragedy are ongoing by authorities.

Meanwhile, Australian Transport Safety Bureau officials traveled to PNG on Wednesday to meet with the captain and crew of the stranded ship.

“There are a number of different agencies that will be looking into this,” ATSB commissioner Angus Mitchell told the Today program on Wednesday.

But we are focused on figuring out exactly what happened and what lessons can be learned. Frankly, with 80 people in the middle of a cruise, it wasn’t the ideal way to end a Christmas cruise.’

Mr Mitchell noted that the Coral Adventurer was navigating these confined waters for the first time when it ran aground.

However, other Coral Expedition ships have operated in the same waters before.

Papua New Guinea authorities spent three days trying to remove the ship from the reef before it was refloated on Tuesday afternoon.

Coral Adventurer crashed into a reef about 30km off the coast of Lae on Saturday

Initial efforts to pull the stranded ship from the reefs with tugboats (pictured) failed

“We want to know exactly what was planned and what the transition plan was, what the precautions were when working in closed and shallow waters and of course what went wrong,” Mr Mitchell said.

Investigators have quarantined data from the ship’s voyage recorder and are collecting monitoring data, weather reports, crew, operator and maintenance records.

A company spokesperson told the Daily Mail: “Pending local investigations are concluded, the ship will proceed to Cairns and Coral Expeditions crew and staff will assist local authorities with further investigations.”

‘Coral Expeditions sincerely regrets the grounding of its ship and apologizes to our passengers for the disruption they have experienced.

‘All passengers and non-essential crew have now been successfully returned home or to onward connections.

‘Passengers have also been offered a refund for the affected leg of the journey or a credit towards future travel.’