Wellington (dpa) – A 47,000-ton container ship was leaking oil and spilling cargo on beaches Friday, three months after running aground on a New Zealand reef. Clean-up teams mopped up oil on two of the North Island's most popular beaches and collected cargo, including meat, washed up on the shore from the Rena's broken containers, the Maritime New Zealand agency said in a statement. One oil-covered penguin was rescued to be cleaned, the latest victim of the country's worst marine environmental disaster. More than 2,000 seabirds have died and nearly 400 oil-contaminated little blue penguins cleaned since the Rena ran aground 22 kilometers off the east coast port of Tauranga on October 5. The Rena leaked about 360 tons of heavy fuel oil after grounding, and salvage teams managed to siphon off more than another 1,000 tons, but Maritime New Zealand commander Rob Service said before Christmas, “We know there is still oil on the wreck that the salvage team can't reach. We are ready to launch another large scale-response if and when that oil is released.” The agency reported Friday a “light oil sheen” extending up to 2.5 kilometers from the vessel and dispatched clean-up teams to the suburban Papamoa and Mount Maunganui beaches, which would normally be packed with holidaymakers at this time, the height of summer. Heavy rain and strong winds were sweeping the area, however, keeping the crowds off the sand and stopping the salvage operation to remove the 985 containers still on board. The Filipino captain and navigation officer of the Liberian-flagged Rena spent Christmas in New Zealand on bail and awaiting trial on criminal charges related to the ship's grounding, including operating a vessel in a manner causing unnecessary danger. BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/aZtBA Tags: New Zealand, Oil Spill, Rena Section: Environment, Going Green, Latest News, Oceana
