'24 hour party' on cruise ship trapped in ice

A ship carrying hundreds of passengers stuck in the ice in the Saint Lawrence Seaway off Matane in eastern Canada has been freed, news reports said.

Ice breaker Terry Fox succeeded to clear a path for the stricken CTMA Vacancier with 300 people on board on Tuesday afternoon.

However, a second ship, the Georges-Alexandre-Lebel, a cargo ship owned by Canada's COGEMA shipping company, remained caught in the ice off Matane.

Passengers on the CTMA Vacancier ship were cruising their way to a one-week cross country ski tour on Monday when the ship became enmeshed in the ice, but the detour has not dampened their holiday mood.

"It's a 24 hour party on board," passenger James Gray told the broadcaster by telephone.

"Its an absolutely incredible experience. I think it's a historic moment to be on a passenger ship stuck in the ice on the St Lawrence in the middle of winter. It's about -40 Celsius outside right now," he added.

COGEMA general director Andre Landry told the French-language newspaper Le Soleil that ice of that thickness has not been observed in the seaway that early in the year for many years.

"That is usually expected in February and March," Landry said.

Initial attempts to help the ship by the ice breaker Terry Fox failed.