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NZ Navy divers begin fuel recovery from HMNZS Manawanui in Samoa

Wellington, New Zealand

New Zealand Navy divers are working from a barge to extract fuel and other pollutants from the HMNZS Manawanui. Upolu, Samoa. 2 January 2025. Photo: NZDF.

Fuel recovery is now underway from the sunken HMNZS Manawanui in Samoa.

Senior National Representative for Operation Resolution, Commodore Andrew Brown said today, 2 January, that New Zealand Navy divers had begun extracting fuel and other pollutants from the ship, during an environmental protection operation that is expected to take a number of weeks. The navy ship sank after running aground on a reef on the southern coast of Upolu in October.

He said the fuel recovery was a considerable milestone in the Operation Resolution response to the grounding and sinking of HMNZS Manawanui, and that the weather had been kind and it was all go on the barge.

“I can report the salvors’ divers have begun the process of extracting fuel and other pollutants from the ship and transferring it into tank-tainers on the barge. As always, progress is dependent on favourable sea and weather conditions which the salvors monitor daily.

“There is a large quality of automotive gas oil and other pollutants held on board in various locations throughout the ship and we are expecting removal to take a number of weeks,” he said.

“The Samoan community will see the barge periodically return to the Port of Apia to offload the contents of the tank-tainers before the barge returns to its mooring over the Manawanui to resume fuel removal,” Commodore Brown said.

New Zealand Navy divers extracting fuel and other pollutants from the HMNZS Manawanui. Upolu, Samoa. 2 January 2025. Photo: NZDF.

The intention was for the fuel and other pollutants to be stored in Apia while the New Zealand Government worked through processes for disposal.

“This stage of the fuel removal process is complex and technical and it is extremely important we do a careful and thorough job. While the salvors’ fuel recovery work is progressing, our NZDF staff continue to support sea water sample collection and monitoring above and around the Manawanui,” Commodore Brown said.

He said the Samoan Government continued to manage the overall response and the salvors and the New Zealand Defence Force were working very closely with them.

“We acknowledge the concerns around this incident and appreciate the importance of the marine and coastal environments to the people of Samoa, and our focus continues to be on minimising any possible environmental impacts and supporting the response. These remain our absolute priorities and the commencement of the removal of fuel and other pollutants from the ship is a major milestone in this process,” he said.