Buenos Aires - The cruise ship Ocean Nova, with 106 people on board, was to attempt again Wednesday to free itself after running aground a day earlier near an Argentine military base in Antarctica.

Amid strong winds, the ship awaited the arrival of another cruise ship to which its passengers might be evacuated.

Passengers were in good condition and out of danger, Patrick Shaw, chairman of the company Quark Expeditions which operates the Ocean Nova, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

Shaw noted that the ship's hull suffered no damage in the accident.

The Ocean Nova, sailing under the Bahamas flag, ran aground early Tuesday just three miles off the Argentine military base San Martin, in the area known as Bahia Margarita.

Former Danish Navy seaman Per Gravesen, the ship's captain, decided to wait for high tide to try and get the ship out of trouble by its own means. An attempt was made in the early hours of Wednesday, but failed.

"The manoeuvres turned out to be insufficient, so the ship remains aground in the same place," the Argentine Navy said in a statement.

The captain was to try again later, at the next high tide.

"If he makes it and the hull suffered no damage, passengers can continue their 15-day journey," Shaw said.

In case the renewed attempt also fails, passengers were to be evacuated to the cruise ship Clipper Adventure, also operated by Quark Expeditions and which is already in the area, to take them to Argentina's southernmost town, Ushuaia.

The US company Quark Expeditions, which specializes in tourist expeditions to Antarctica, said the ship was carrying citizens of the United States, Britain, Canada, Australia, Germany, Ireland, Argentina, Panama, Guatemala, Colombia, Honduras and the Philippines, among others.

The Argentine Navy made contact Tuesday with the ship and with the Spanish vessel Hesperides, which was about 120 kilometres away from the site and was to assist the Ocean Nova.

A Navy plane was also deployed to survey the area and confirmed that no fuel leakages were visible. Officials have warned of unusually difficult weather conditions in the southern hemisphere summer, with a growing concentration of ice and sustained winds of 70 kilometres per hour.

Three Argentine Navy warships were also ready to assist an emergency operation if needed.

The number of tourist expedition to Antarctica is growing year by year. In the southern summer, some 37 ships with over 14,000 passengers left Ushuaia for Antarctica, while a further 207 ships arrived in Argentina's southernmost town, some 3,100 kilometres south of Buenos Aires. (dpa)