AUCKLAND: Stranded Ship Rena, carrying 1700 tons of heavy oil has begun to leak from what appears to be a 100 ton volume fuel tank, resulting in oil covered wildlife being found in the polluted waters around the ship. Among the wildlife found are two oil covered blue penguins who are now receiving fluids at the temporary wildlife center at Mt. Maunganui. In light of the current situation, Minister of Transport Steven Joyce said “the situation with the oil is going to get worse before it gets better, I think there's no getting around that fact.” International partners have also been among the recovery teams along with 100 staff from the Incident Control Center. Joyce expressed his appreciation for the recovery teams efforts, “it's a very complex and very difficult operation and the reality is I think you wouldn't choose to start from the position that these good people have found themselves in.” Tauranga City Mayor, Stuart Crosby also expressed the magnitude of the forthcoming operation, “It's going to be a huge exercise and I think we need to brace ourselves for quite a significant event.” Reports say that the amount of oil leaked is unknown and as of now no cargo has been removed from the ship. The public have been warned not to handle any wildlife themselves by the Department of Conservation (DOC) and the National Oiled Wildlife Response Team. There are growing concerns for the 23 men still on board the ship who are said to be working extremely hard to pump water out of Rena and shift oil to safer parts of the ship. Pete Donaldson said, “My concern as a coastguard duty skipper is there is 23 guys out there and if the weather plays up, what is going to happen to them?” BM
