Crippled cargo ship breaks in two on reef
Wellington - New Zealand authorities were preparing Sunday to deal with another oil spill from the crippled cargo ship Rena that began to break up in heavy seas overnight.
The stern section of the 47,000-ton vessel was ripped away from the front by 7-metre high waves and a gap of nearly 30 metres separated the two parts, Maritime New Zealand said.
The front remained stuck firmly on the reef, 22 kilometres off the east coast port of Tauranga, where it grounded on October 5. The rear section was being held in place by a line from an anchored tugboat.
As the Rena began to break up, it spilled up to about 30 containers of goods into the sea.
Tauranga is one of the busiest ports in the country and authorities issued a warning to shipping because conditions were too rough to recover the debris immediately.
"There's no question the ship is badly damaged with the severe movement breaking off many of the hatch covers and releasing containers from the holds," agency salvage unit manager David Billington said.
Teams using a crane-equipped boat removed nearly 400 containers of cargo and 98 were lost overboard in storms last week. But nearly 900 containers remained, mostly below deck.
Cargo from broken containers including timber, meat, dairy products and animal skins for export had washed up on beaches.//DPA
