A power outage may have caused a Royal New Zealand Navy ship to run aground on a reef off the coast of Samoa, NZ Defence Minister Judith Collins has suggested.
The HMNZS Manawanui, a specialist dive and hydrographic vessel worth $100m (US$61 million), sank Sunday morning after it ran aground on a reef off the coast of Upolu and caught fire.
The vessel was conducting a survey around one nautical mile offshore when it hit the reef. Seven civilians and four military personnel from foreign forces were among the 75 on board.
A Court of Inquiry was launched to find out what went wrong.
Speaking to Breakfast this morning, Defence Minister Judith Collins suggested a power outage may have caused the ship to run aground.
“We need to find out what that happened, apparently it lost power, I’m aware of that, and ended up aground on the reef,” she said.
She said the Chief of Navy told her the Court of Inquiry had already begun its investigation and that the Chief of Defence told her a report on the incident was “a matter of weeks, or if it’s more complex, a matter of a few months” away.
“But we’re not talking six years in the piece,” she said.
Collins said the ship was 20 years old and originally used to map the floor of the North Sea for Norway.
“It was once basically a tender for oil rigs,” she said.
Asked if New Zealand had gone bargain hunting when selecting ships for its Navy, Collins said: “It was no doubt a good ship and has done some very useful work, so I don’t want to blame the ship at all, but I do think the Court of Inquiry is going to get to the bottom of it.”
The minister was also asked what kind of gap the Manawanui’s sinking would leave in New Zealand’s naval capability.
“It’s not a battleship. It was never built as that. It was built for diving support and for surveying,” she said.
Collins said New Zealand had surveying capability through NIWA, which has its own ships, but “it’s a big gap for the Navy”.
She said the Navy was “really hurting” after the sinking.
“If you’ve got any family or friends in the Navy, can you please reach out to them.”
Collins said New Zealand should not be embarrassed by the sinking, as “it could have been a really, really massive tragedy”.
“I’ll never be embarrassed by New Zealand Defence Force,” she said.
“I’m just so pleased that they’re going to be able to come home, and we’re going to wrap some more support around them.
“Because they have been through a very, very challenging time.”
She said the focus was now on the environment, with divers being sent to Samoa to inspect the shipwreck and see if anything could be salvaged.
“What they’re going to do today is work out exactly where the ship is and exactly what the depth of water is because there is a huge difference if it’s at 50m or it’s 150m.”
She said New Zealand would work with the government of Samoa and Maritime NZ, which has spillage equipment, to mitigate any risk of an oil spill.
Collins said there was “always a risk” of a spill when a ship the size of the Manawanui sinks.
“This ship had a lot of fuel on board, so yes, there is a risk, said Collins.
