WELLINGTON (AP) – A fuel spill is “highly probable” after a New Zealand navy ship grounded, caught fire and sank off the coast of Samoa, the Pacific island nation’s acting prime minister said late Sunday.
All 75 people on board the HMNZS Manawanui were taken to safety on life boats. The ship, one of only nine in New Zealand’s navy, was the first the country has lost at sea since World War II.
Officials in Samoa are assessing the environmental impact in the area where the ship sank on Sunday, acting Prime Minister Tuala Tevaga Iosefo Ponifasio said.
The vessel’s passengers – including civilian scientists and foreign military personnel – evacuated in “challenging conditions” and darkness, New Zealand’s Chief of Navy Rear Admiral Garin Golding told reporters. The vessel was about a mile from shore when it grounded on a reef and began taking on water, and it took five hours for the first survivors to reach land, he said.
Authorities in Samoa said a few passengers were treated for minor injuries after some walked across the reef to safety.
New Zealand will hold a court of inquiry into the loss of the ship. The cause of the accident is not known, but Defence Minister Judith Collins told 1News yesterday that she had been told a loss of power to the vessel had led to its grounding.
The specialist dive and hydrographic vessel had been in service for New Zealand since 2019, but was 20 years old and had previously belonged to Norway, Collins said.
