Eight cruise passengers left behind in the African island nation of São Tomé and Príncipe have been struggling for days to catch up with their Norwegian Cruise Line ship as it makes its way up the western coast of Africa.

The passengers – who according to reports are six Americans and two Australians – were late getting back to the ship on March 27, according to a statement from Norwegian Cruise Line.

"Eight guests who were on the island on their own or with a private tour missed the last tender back to the vessel, therefore not meeting the all aboard time of 3pm local time," the statement said.

READ MORE: Severe weather warning for Victoria after wild Melbourne storm

"While this is a very unfortunate situation, guests are responsible for ensuring they return to the ship at the published time, which is communicated broadly over the ship's intercom, in the daily communication and posted just before exiting the vessel."

Norwegian Cruise Line said that the passengers' passports were handed over to local port agents for the guests to collect.

The cruise line said that guests are responsible for the cost of getting to the next available port of call to rejoin the ship.

The cruise line said it was working with local authorities and communicating with the stranded passengers.

READ MORE: Caroline's brain was 'almost torn in half' after horror holiday crash. Now she wants to inspire others

READ MORE: Émile Soleil: What happened to missing French toddler

According to stranded South Carolina couple Jill and Jay Campbell, who have been in contact with CNN affiliate WPDE about their situation, the group of eight stranded passengers spent 15 hours travelling through six countries to try to rejoin their ship on Sunday in Gambia.

But the ship was unable to dock because of low tides and spent an additional day at sea.

The Campbells told WPDE that the group would next try to get to Senegal, where the ship is scheduled to call into port on Tuesday.

The Campbells told WPDE that several members of the group are elderly, another is a paraplegic and one woman is pregnant.

They said one member of the group has been without his heart medication for five days and had become ill.

CNN has contacted Norwegian Cruise Line for additional details but did not immediately receive a response.

READ MORE: Palmer unveils Titanic II design, promises 'authentic Titanic experience'

A missed all-aboard time

The group's mad dash started after a tour on São Tomé and Príncipe ran long on March 27.

"We were like, 'Our time is getting really short,' and they were like, 'No problem, we can get you back within an hour,'" Jay Campbell said of the tour organisers.

Campbell told WPDE that the tour operator contacted the captain to say that the passengers were on their way but would be late.

The ship was still in port when they got back, but Campbell said that the captain would not let them on board.

READ MORE: Cat 'smuggled' on Sydney-bound cruise ship

"The harbour master tried to call the ship, the captain refused the call," Campbell told WPDE late last week.

"We sent emails to NCL, the NCL customer service emergency number, they said 'Well, the only way for us to get in touch with the ship is to send them emails, they're not responding to our emails."

The Campbells told WPDE the group was left without their medications and that most passengers didn't have credit cards that were accepted on São Tomé and Príncipe, so the Campbells spent thousands of dollars on their Visa card for lodging and essentials for the group.

READ MORE: Richard Branson's cruise line cancels Australian sailings for next season

The Campbells said one additional passenger, who had been on a different tour, had a medical emergency and was hospitalised on São Tomé, leaving her stranded as well.

The Campbells said they were able to get in touch with that passenger's daughter back in California to help coordinate her return to North America.

Cruise ships will wait for passengers who have booked excursions through the cruise line who are late.

But any passengers who are on trips booked independently risk missing the ship if they are delayed.

The couple boarded the ship on March 20.

The website CruiseMapper.com shows that the cruise ship Norwegian Dawn is en route on Monday to Dakar, Senegal.

-reported with CNN

Here's what you can currently expect to pay as the median value for a home in all our capital cities, according to the latest numbers.

A snake catcher was called in to help a Brisbane family after they made an unnerving discovery in their garage.

Tony from Redland's Snake Catcher arrived at a home in Cleveland yesterday to investigate a child's wheeled toy.

Lifting the toy up, Tony said that any child who sat on the walker would have received "a bit of a shock" – there was a carpet python curled up underneath.

READ MORE: Dwindling supply putting a rocket on house prices

The non-venomous snake had "a great place to hide right underneath this toy", Tony said in a video shared with 9news.com.au.

As Tony went to remove the python, the family's kids can be heard screaming as the python began to uncurl itself from a tightly wrapped ball.

The creature lifted its head to investigate, with the catcher describing it as "a lovely snake".

READ MORE: L-plater busted for phone use – even though he wasn't touching it

Tony told 9news.com.au that Redland's Snake Catchers work alongside Queensland National Parks and Wildlife to release snakes back into the bush.

They identify areas where they can help rejuvenate snake populations.

The snake catchers advise the public to always seek professional help to remove snakes found in the home.

The federal government has axed 50 infrastructure projects after a scathing independent review found tens of billions of dollars in cost pressures that would put plans at risk of failure.

Infrastructure Minister Catherine King pointed the finger at the previous Coalition government after the report found a lack of proper planning and costings, and said the cuts were necessary to ensure the viability of 400 projects to be delivered in the next decade.

The previous pipeline could not be delivered under the $120 billion budget, the review found, with $32.8 billion found in cost pressures.

READ MORE: Australia's unemployment rate increases

"It is clear that the previous government deliberately set about announcing projects that did not have enough funding, and they knew could not be delivered," she said.

"It can only be described, frankly, as economic vandalism."

King said the government would accept or accept in principle all of the review's recommendations.

She said the government's funding for the Infrastructure Investment Program has not dropped, with the same budget now going to fewer projects.

Each state and territory has retained the same funding allocation as before the review.

"It (is) not a savings exercise," King said.

"All states and territories have maintained their funding in the pipeline that they previously had – not a single dollar less over the next 10 years."

READ MORE: Released asylum seekers to get ankle bracelets, curfews

That hasn't stopped criticism from state governments, with Queensland Treasurer Cameron Dick calling on King to reinstate the cancelled projects.

"Our government has not and will not cooperate to support Catherine King's cuts," he said.

"The minister should retract … these cuts."

However, King hit back, claiming the Queensland government had been misinformed.

"There are some projects in all states and territories that are cancelled, but the amount of money that Queensland receives has not been cut at all," she said.

"And there is some confusion, I would have to say, on behalf of the Queensland government.

"I think they have been given some unusual information that does not accord with what we have told them."

READ MORE: China says it's built the world's fastest internet network

Nine projects in Queensland have been discontinued – fewer than New South Wales' 17 and Victoria's 12, but more than Western Australia, South Australia (both five) the ACT and Tasmania (both one).

No projects in the Northern Territory were cancelled.

Included in the cancelled projects are three commuter car parks in NSW announced by the then-Coalition government before the 2019 election.

In another move that could heighten tensions, King said she is seeking to move to a 50-50 funding split between the Commonwealth and state and territory governments for new projects, instead of 80-20.

A young girl is about to undergo surgery after her leg was broken when a man riding an electric scooter allegedly crashed into her in NSW's hunter region.

Police were told the man lost control and crashed into a four-year-old girl, breaking her leg, at a shopping centre on Main Road in Cardiff about 10am today.

He allegedly did not stop to help the girl.

READ MORE: Teen murdered teacher over bad grade

"The man immediately retrieved his scooter and left the scene," NSW Police said in a statement.

Paramedics treated the girl, who also had a cut to her face, before taking her to John Hunter Hospital in a stable condition "where she is expected to undergo surgery".

"Police have released CCTV vision of a man who they believe may be able to assist with their inquiries," NSW Police said.

READ MORE: Swim coach 'built a culture' to abuse children

"The man is described as being of Caucasian appearance, aged in his late 30s, with short brown hair, and has a large tattoo on his right forearm.

"He is depicted wearing a black hat, blue sunglasses, black shirt, black shorts, red belt, dirty white shoes, grey 'Nike' hooded jumper, black shorts, and red shoes, and was riding a black electric scooter."

Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers.

Police are investigating after a woman's body was found in a block of units in Adelaide.

Detectives trawled a unit today at Saint Margaret Crescent in Felixstow, where a body of a woman believed to be a 44-year-old resident was found at 1.30pm on Wednesday.

Police spent the day gathering evidence and speaking to residents and were set to remain at the scene overnight.

READ MORE: Qantas illegally stood down worker who raised COVID-19 fears

"Investigators will be undertaking a comprehensive investigation into the cause and circumstances of her death," SA Police said in a statement.

"Police are preparing a report for the coroner.

"A scene guard will remain in place overnight as police try to determine how the woman died."

There are still policy differences yet to be settled, Luxon has stated today.

Coldplay fans were hoping to see 'Yellow' but instead they are seeing red after a flight was cancelled from Adelaide to Perth.

World-renowned British rock band Coldplay is performing one Australian show in Perth on Saturday night.

Interstate fans have been devastated their Virgin Australia flight from Adelaide was cancelled as they were checking in last night.

READ MORE: Teen murdered teacher over bad grade

Due to the limited flights and high demand from Adelaide to Perth, many customers have been left without a seat on a flight before the show.

"There's no other flights basically in the whole of Australia to get to Perth," a Coldplay fan told 9News.

"They scheduled another flight for me but it was on the 20th so I would have missed the concert if I took that one," another said.

The band is arriving in Perth tonight.

READ MORE: Swim coach 'built a culture' to abuse children

Virgin also cancelled a flight to Sydney last night, meaning many travellers have had to reschedule their flights to make it in time for a Robbie Williams performance tonight.

A Virgin Australia spokesperson apologised to passengers and said the cancellations were due to resourcing and curfew issues.

The spokesperson said Virgin Australia was doing everything it could to help those impacted.

A crash in Palmerston North between a car and a motorcycle has also left more injured.

‘I love working here. I love the people that I get to work with here.’