Divers have described the eerie, “distressing” scene at the site of the HMNZS Manawanui after it sank off the coast of Samoa over the weekend.
The New Zealand Navy survey ship sank after hitting a reef on Saturday night.
A member of the 15-strong Navy survey search and recovery dive team, Ensign Sam King, told 1News the vessel was “lying there up on its right side”.
“It’s not something you’d really expect to see at all, especially on one of our ships that we’ve seen very recently at base. We dive to it all the time, we’re cleaning it, and it’s quite distressing, in a way.
“It’s quite sad as well, knowing that we’ve had a lot of colleagues and friends that served on there over the years, to know they were in a situation like that and we’re really happy to hear they all got away safely.”
Able Diver Tyler Doole said one of the items salvaged by the team was the voyage data recorder.
“Pretty much it’s the black box of the ship, like on an airplane,” he said.
“It tells us where the ship’s been, what’s happened on the ship, and that will go towards the investigation of what happened.”
1News headed out to the site, where three containers could be seen wedged on various parts of the reef. A light film of residual fuel glistened along the swells as it trailed out of the Manawanui, bringing with it an overpowering smell of diesel.
1News understands there are three points on the ship which are leaking light diesel fuel. The Navy said the tanks are sealed and the petrol coming out is from the pipes in the ship.
“At this stage, we’re just identifying where all the important things on the ship are, all the different components,” dive team leader Lieutenant Christian Lloyd said.
“We want to firstly identify, potentially, where leakage could occur, or further leakage, as the ship is sitting on bottom.”
He said yesterday was a “successful day” as the dive team was able to recover some items of interest that would assist with piecing together the investigation and took the first accurate images of the ship.
Various agencies are working together to assess the situation, he said, with the first few days focused on gathering information.
“We want to get all the hazards out of the water, all the hazards off the beach. We need to interact with the locals, we need to get to villages and understand the situation.
“We want to help, we’re here to help, and we’ll stay as long as it’s needed.”
