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

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Divers and marine experts found no evidence of a major fuel spill on a Samoan reef 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. 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 later he said there was no evidence of oil spilling onto the reefs, ashore and nearby areas, 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 lifeboats 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. 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 that she had been told a loss of power to the vessel had led to its grounding. Manu Percival, a surfing tour guide who works in the area where the ship sank, told The Associated Press by phone that oil was not visible from the ship but debris had littered the water and shoreline, and locals were not gathering shellfish as they normally did. It was too soon to know if the "fragile" reef ecosystem had been damaged, he said. This article was provided by The Associated Press.