A luxury cruise ship has run aground off Papua New Guinea with dozens of passengers onboard weeks after the same vessel left behind an Australian grandmother to die on an island during a stopover.

The Coral Adventurer struck a reef about 30km off the coast of Lae, north of the PNG capital Port Moresby, at about 6am on Saturday.

Daily Mail understands that 80 passengers and 43 crew members who were onboard have now been taken off the ship, although it is not clear whether they have been taken ashore.

A marine medical expert said that it now depends how ‘firmly stuck’ the ship is on the reef as to whether it can be refloated at high tide later on Sunday.

Dr Paul Luckin, a medical advisor to the Australian Maritime Safety Authority told Weekend Sunrise that the 123 people onboard would have been ‘perfectly safe’ if they had ‘shelter, breathable air, lots of water and food’.

An officer from the PNG Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre has boarded the vessel to assist crew in managing the incident, and attempts will continue today to dislodge the boat from the reef.

The incident has sparked a fresh controversy for the vessel’s operators, Cairns-based Coral Expeditions, two months after its most recent voyage ended in tragedy.

‘All passengers and crew are safe,’ a spokesman told Daily Mail.

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The Coral Adventurer cruise ship (above) ran aground off PNG on Saturday, just two months after an elderly passenger died when she was left behind on an island

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The Coral Adventurer struck a reef about 30km off the coast of Lae, north of the PNG capital Port Moresby at about 6am on Saturday stranding around 123 people onboard

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The cruise ship struck a reef off  the coast of Lae (above)

‘An initial inspection indicates no damage to the vessel.

‘The incident has been reported to authorities and will undergo further official inspections to the hull and marine environment.’

The current voyage departed Cairns on December 18 and was due to end on December 30.

Passengers each forked out at least $13,280 for the 12-night voyage.

Coral Expeditions is still reeling from the death of NSW woman, Suzanne Rees, 80, who died after being left behind on Lizard Island in October during a stopover on a $80,000-a-ticket circumnavigation of Australia.

Ms Rees had been hiking to the summit of the Great Barrier Reef island’s highest peak but left the group to return to the ship after becoming too tired to continue.

Serious questions were raised about the five-hour delay in launching a search for the grandmother after she failed to reboard.

Multiple investigations by authorities into the tragedy continue.

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

Ms Rees’ grieving family have also demanded answers.

‘From the little we have been told, it seems that there was a failure of care and common sense,’ her daughter Katherine said.

Dr Luckin said the latest incident on the Coral Adventurer was uncommon but not unknown.

‘One of the problems in waters like that is that there can be reefs that are uncharted, and with perfectly good navigation and perfectly good equipment, it is possible for a ship to hit an unchartered reef,’ he explained.

‘And reefs do of course change over time. There is of course a possibility of mechanical failure onboard with the navigation system or propulsion system but that’s pure speculation.’

Dr Luckin added that depending on whether the ship’s hull now had a hole in it from striking the reef, the operators may have to ‘leave the ship where it is’, or reduce its weight by pumping off bilge water.