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NZ Navy ship sinks off Samoa, all 75 onboard safe

All 78 people on board HMNZS Manawanui have been accounted for, New Zealand officials say

All 78 people on board HMNZS Manawanui have been accounted for, New Zealand officials say Photo: AAP

A Royal New Zealand Navy vessel has run aground and sunk off Samoa but all 75 crew and passengers on board are safe after being rescued from lifeboats after evacuating the stricken ship.

Manawanui, the navy’s specialist dive and hydrographic vessel, ran aground near the southern coast of Upolu on Saturday night (local time) as it was conducting a reef survey, Commodore Shane Arndell, the maritime component commander of the New Zealand Defence Force, said.

Several vessels responded and helped rescue the crew and passengers who had left the ship in lifeboats early on Sunday, Arndell said.

A Royal New Zealand Air Force P-8A Poseidon was also sent to help in the rescue.

The cause of the grounding was unknown and would need further investigation, New Zealand Defence Force said.

Video and photos published on local media showed the Manawanui, which cost the New Zealand government NZ$103 million ($A93 million) in 2018, listing heavily and with plumes of thick grey smoke rising after it ran aground.

The vessel later capsized and had disappeared beneath the surface by 9am local time, New Zealand Defence Force said.

The agency said it was “working with authorities to understand the implications and minimise the environmental impacts”.

Chief of Navy Rear Admiral Garin Golding said in Auckland that a plane would leave for Samoa on Sunday to bring the rescued crew and passengers back to New Zealand.

Some of those rescued had suffered minor injuries, including from walking across a reef.

Defence Minister Judith Collins described the grounding as a “really challenging for everybody on board”.

“I know that what has happened is going to take quite a bit of time to process,” Collins said.

“I look forward to pinpointing the cause so that we can learn from it and avoid a repeat,” she said, adding that an immediate focus was to salvage “what is left” of the vessel.

Rescue operations were co-ordinated by Samoan emergency services and Australian Defence personnel with the help of the New Zealand rescue centre, according to a statement from Samoa Police, Prison and Corrections Service posted on Facebook.

Manawanui had been used for specialist diving, salvage and survey tasks around New Zealand and across the south-west Pacific.

New Zealand’s Navy is already working at reduced capacity with three of its nine ships idle due to personnel shortages.

-AAP

Topics: New Zealand
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