‘Serious questions’ over NZ spill

9 October 2011 Last updated at 00:31 ET

New Zealand’s Prime Minister John Key says “serious questions” must be answered about why a container ship ran aground on a reef off one of the country’s most spectacular coastlines.

Oil leaking from the Liberian-flagged Rena has created a 5km (3 mile) slick.

Mr Key flew over the stranded vessel, 12 nautical miles off the coast, in a helicopter on Sunday.

He said two inquiries to determine why the ship had collided with the Astrolabe Reef were already under way.

“People know about the reef, and for it to plough into it for no particular reason – at night, in calm waters – tells something terrible has gone wrong and we need to understand why,” Mr Key told Radio New Zealand.

The New Zealand navy has sent four ships to help extract the leaking oil and try to prevent further damage from the 47,000-tonne container ship.

Officials says 20-30 tonnes oil have already spilled into the Bay of Plenty, one of the country’s top tourist destinations.

If the ship breaks up, it could release 1,700 tonnes of heavy fuel into an area that is home to whales, dolphins, seals, penguins and a variety of other birds.

It is not known why the Rena ran aground on Wednesday on the reef. None of the vessel’s 25 crew was injured.

Svitzer Salvage, the company handling the ship’s rescue, said the oil needs to be secured, and then removed before any refloat attempt is possible.

Exclusion zone

Some 200 people have joined the response team, with 300 defence personnel on standby to clean up the shoreline if needed.

The department of conservation has established two wildlife rescue centres and dispatched teams to scour the beaches and islands of the Bay of Plenty looking for oil-covered animals and birds.

The maritime authorities has said a total of eight oiled birds, including little blue penguins, had been recovered and taken to a wildlife facility in Te Maunga.

Officials say they were preparing for the possibility the slick would hit the coast, after dispersants sprayed from aircraft proved ineffective.

“It has the potential to be very, very serious indeed, simply because of the age of the ship, the damage she’s sustained,” Andrew Berry of Maritime New Zealand (MNZ) said.

MNZ has established a one-kilometre maritime exclusion zone around the ship and warned that the fuel oil is toxic.

The animal welfare group Forest and Bird said the timing of the accident, in the middle of the breeding season for birds, was “disastrous”.

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