Maritime disaster ship Rena sinking
WELLINGTON: One half of a cargo ship that ran aground on a New Zealand reef three months ago is now sinking.
Maritime New Zealand spokesman James Sygrove said that the stern section of the vessel Rena began slipping into the ocean from the Astrolabe reef at about 9am New Zealand time today.
By noon the front 30 metres of the sinking section was still above the waterline, but the back section and the bridge were under the water, he said.
Sygrove said the bow section of the boat remained wedged on the reef.
He said wood, plastic and other debris could be seen floating around the sinking stern section.
“It’s quite a fluid situation,” he said, adding that authorities remain unsure of what would happen next.
The 774-foot (236-metre) vessel split in two over the weekend in heavy seas.
It has been battered on the reef near the North Island port of Tauranga since it ran aground October 5.
About 150 cargo containers have spilled into the sea since the weekend. More than 800 are still aboard. Many more containers are expected to fall off as the stern sinks.
In the days after it ran aground, the Rena spilled about 400 tons of fuel oil, fouling pristine beaches and killing thousands of seabirds in what has been labelled New Zealand’s worst maritime envi- ronmental disaster.
Maritime New Zealand estimates that less than 100 tons of oil remains on the ship after salvage crews managed to remove much of the remaining oil and nearly 400 containers.
However, it was a slow process removing containers and hundreds were still aboard when the vessel split apart.
New Zealand police closed access to one beach yesterday after some people were seen scavenging bags of powdered milk that washed ashore. Authorities warned the food may be unsafe.
More than 30 containers from the ship and plenty of loose debris has washed up at local beaches since the Rena split apart.
Authorities have been working to tow other containers out to sea to prevent more from coming ashore.
Salvage crews have attached beacons and buoys to some containers so they can be more easily recovered later. – Sapa-ap