New Zealand navy ship sinks off Samoa, fuel spill ‘highly probable’

A fuel spill is “highly probable” after a New Zealand navy ship grounded, caught fire and sank off the coast of Samoa, the Pacific island nation’s acting prime minister said late on Sunday.

All 75 people on board the HMNZS Manawanui were taken to safety on lifeboats. The ship, one of only nine in New Zealand’s navy, was the first the country has lost at sea since World War II.

Officials in Samoa are assessing the environmental impact in the area where the ship sank on Sunday morning, acting Prime Minister Tuala Tevaga Iosefo Ponifasio said in a statement.

The vessel’s passengers – including civilian scientists and foreign military personnel – evacuated in “challenging conditions” and darkness, New Zealand’s Chief of Navy Rear Admiral Garin Golding told reporters. The vessel was about a mile from shore when it grounded on a reef and began taking on water, and it took five hours for the first survivors to reach land, he said.

Authorities in Samoa said a few passengers were treated for minor injuries after some walked across the reef to safety.