No evidence of major fuel spill on Samoan reef where New Zealand navy ship sank

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Divers and marine experts found no evidence of a major fuel spill on a Samoan reef Tuesday after a New Zealand navy ship ran aground and sank, Samoa’s deputy prime minister said.

All 75 people on board the HMNZS Manawanui evacuated safely as the boat foundered about a mile off the coast of Upolu, Samoa, early Sunday. The ship was one of only nine in New Zealand’s navy and was the first the country lost at sea since World War II.

Samoan Deputy Prime Minister Tuala Tevaga Iosefo Ponifasio had earlier said a fuel spill was “highly probable.” But he said Tuesday there was no evidence of oil spilling onto the reefs, ashore and nearby area, except for “small leakages of oil coming from the vessel.” That had been contained using specialized equipment, Ponifasio said in a statement.

The vessel’s passengers — including civilian scientists and foreign military personnel — left the vessel on life boats in “challenging conditions” and darkness, New Zealand’s Chief of Navy Rear Admiral Garin Golding told reporters. It took five hours for the first survivors to reach land, he said.

One person was treated in a hospital for minor injuries and has been discharged, the military said. Up to 17 others sustained cuts, bruises or suspected concussions. An Air Force plane carrying 72 people from the ship landed at an air base in Auckland on Monday night.

New Zealand will hold a court of inquiry into the loss of the ship. The cause of the accident is not known, but Defense Minister Judith Collins told 1News on Monday 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