• Stern of stricken container ship sinks off New Zealand

    Maritime New Zealand via Reuters

    The bow section of the stricken container ship Rena remains above water about 14 nautical miles from Tauranga on the east coast of New Zealand's North Island on April 4, 2012.

    The stern of a broken-up ship that caused New Zealand's biggest sea pollution disaster sank on Wednesday after waves of up to 12 meters pounded the wreck, according to officials from Maritime New Zealand. 

    The bow of the ship remains above water six months after it ran aground on a reef and three months after the Rena split in two.

    The sinking of the stern section is likely to result in the loss of more debris and a light sheen of oil had already been seen surrounding the wreck, Maritime New Zealand said after conducting an overflight.

    See more pictures of the Rena disaster on PhotoBlog.

    Maritime New Zealand via EPA

    The sinking stern of the Rena on April 4, 2012. The Rena ran aground on October 5, 2011, with 70 of the 1368 containers that were on board washing up on shore.

    Maritime New Zealand via AFP - Getty Images

    The Rena is pounded by high seas on April 4, 2012.

     

  • Stricken ship splits in two off New Zealand coast

    Maritime New Zealand via Getty Images

    MV Rena is seen in two pieces after overnight bad weather pounded the vessel, on Jan. 9, 2012 in Tauranga, New Zealand. The ship, which struck Astrolabe Reef off the coast of Mt Maunganui on Oct. 5, 2011, split in two over the weekend.

    Marty Melville / AFP - Getty Images

    A team of oil-spill and wildlife specialists has been mobilised as oil again began flowing from the Rena, after it broke in two in a storm over the weekend.

    Marty Melville / AFP - Getty Images

    Marty Melville / AFP - Getty Images

    A security guard walks on a beach where shipping containers and bags of milk powder, seen here, were washed ashore on Jan. 9, 2012.

    The Associated Press reports from WELLINGTON, New Zealand: 

    A light sheen of oil extended about two miles from a wrecked cargo ship that split in two over the weekend, but so far the damage appears small compared to the environmental disaster created when the vessel ran aground in October, New Zealand authorities said Monday.

    Waihi Police Sgt. Dave Litton said police closed public access to popular Waihi Beach on Monday morning after four cargo containers and other debris from the vessel washed ashore. He said police received calls about people driving off with some of the bags of milk powder that are strewn along the beach.

    Authorities say the milk and other items washed ashore could be health hazards. Read the full story.

    See earlier coverage of the Rena disaster on PhotoBlog.

  • 49 penguins freed after rescue from New Zealand oil spill

    Marty Melville / AFP - Getty Images

    Little Blue Penguins runs towards the sea after being released by wild life workers and school children at Mount Maunganui beach in Tauranga on Thursday, Dec. 8, 2011.

    Marty Melville / AFP - Getty Images

    Wild life workers and school children release Little Blue Penguins.

    Marty Melville / AFP - Getty Images

    Wild life workers and school children release Little Blue Penguins back into the sea at Mount Maunganui beach.

    Marty Melville / AFP - Getty Images

    A Little Blue Penguin encouraged by a wild life worker to head back to the sea.

    By James Cheng

    It makes me happy to see these penguins return to the sea.  

    AP reports:

    WELLINGTON, New Zealand — Forty-nine penguins rescued from an oil spill off New Zealand have been freed after being cleaned and nursed back to health by wildlife officials.

    The birds released Tuesday are among 343 little blue penguins that have been cleaned of oil since a cargo ship ran aground on a reef near Tauranga on Oct. 5 and spilled some 400 tons of fuel oil.

    More than 2,000 sea birds died in the spill.

    Video by WWF-New Zealand / Amy Taylor

  • Container ship sinking off the coast of New Zealand

    Maritime New Zealand via Getty Images

    Swells continue to hit MV Rena as it is stuck on Astrolabe Reef, on Nov. 3, 2011 in Tauranga, New Zealand.

    Graeme Brown / Maritime New Zealand via Getty Images

    The starboard side of Rena's deck is now largely underwater at high tide as it is stuck on Astrolabe Reef, Nov. 3 in Tauranga, New Zealand. The stricken vessel encountered high swells which led authorities to fear it may finally break up. Rena struck the reef on October 5, and has spilled 350 tonnes of oil, and almost 100 shipping containers.

     More photos from the stranded ship on PhotoBlog.

  • Penguin rescued from oil-polluted waters near New Zealand shipwreck

    Natacha Pisarenko / AP

    A rescue worker dries a little blue penguin after it swam in a water pool to wash fuel oil from its body at the wildlife facility in Tauranga, New Zealand, on Oct. 14. The penguin was rescued from waters polluted by oil leaking from the container ship Rena, which ran aground on Oct. 5.

    Bradley Ambrose / AFP - Getty Images

    An oil-coated pair of disgarded gloves lie on grass in Tauranga on Oct. 14.

    Read the latest news from Tauranga, where the calmest weather in days has given salvage crews hope they will be able to resume pumping the remaining fuel from the stricken Rena.

    See more images of the disaster on PhotoBlog.

  • Container ship in danger of breaking up off the New Zealand coast

    By Phaedra Singelis, NBC News

    Can you imagine coming across this scene on your walk along the beach? As the ship gets pounded by waves the containers are starting to topple off, and at least one of those contained hazardous waste and hasn't been found.

    Bradley Ambrose / AFP - Getty Images

    People stand on the beach as a container from the stricken ship 'Rena' lies in the water at Mount Maunganui near Tauranga on Oct.13. Salvage crews readied for a badly listing container ship stuck on a reef to break up, deepening New Zealand's worst maritime pollution disaster as it enters a second week.

    New Zealand Defence Force via Reuters

    A New Zealand Air Force helicopter winches a salvage expert onto the stricken container ship Rena, off the coast of Tauranga, on the east coast of New Zealand's North Island Oct. 13, more than a week after hitting the Astrolabe Reef. Oil tanks on the stranded ship are threatening to break in half salvage experts said on Thursday as the ship's owners apologized for the large clumps of oil washed up on beaches.

    They're trying to figure out if they can pump the oil and fuel out of the ship before it breaks up, spilling 1,870 tons of oil and 220 tons of diesel into the ocean.

    Natacha Pisarenko / AP

    Waves wash the Papamoa Beach dirtied with fuel oil from the Liberian-flagged container ship Rena which has been stuck aground on a reef off the coast of Tauranga, New Zealand, Oct. 13.

    They've already found hundreds of dead birds and are working on saving the 51 birds they found and three seals.

    Blair Harkness / Maritime New Zealand via Reuters

    A penguin affected by fuel-oil from the stricken container ship is treated at the wildlife rehabilitation facility set up at Tauranga made available to Reuters on Oct. 13. Fear grew that the vessel may break up spewing more fuel-oil on to beaches in the country's worst environmental disaster in decades. REUTERS/Blair Harkness/Maritime New Zealand/Handout (NEW ZEALAND - Tags: DISASTER TRANSPORT ENVIRONMENT ENERGY BUSINESS ANIMALS)

    The workers trying to clean up the spill by hand, are also finding hundreds of dead fish washed up along the beach.

    Bradley Ambrose / AFP - Getty Images

    Clean-up workers rake oily sand following the leak from the stricken container ship 'Rena' at Mount Maunganui near Tauranga on Oct.13.

     Full story.

  • Dangerously listing, stricken ship sheds containers as crack appears in hull

    The AP reports:

    The Liberian-flagged Rena — which ran aground Oct. 5 on the Astrolabe Reef, about 14 miles from Tauranga Harbour on New Zealand's North Island — was showing obvious structural strain from the worsening conditions, with a vertical crack apparent Wednesday on the starboard side of its hull from the deck to the waterline.

    About 70 containers have fallen overboard as the 775-foot vessel has moved onto a steeper lean. Read the full story.

    Maritime New Zealand via Getty Images

    Stranded cargo vessel Rena is seen grounded on the Astrolabe Reef in Tauranga, New Zealand, on October 12.

    Bradley Ambrose / AFP - Getty Images

    Volunteers help with the clean-up of oil from the grounded container ship on October 12.

    Ross Setford / EPA

    A crack on the side of the cargo vessel Rena is visible as it remains grounded on the Astrolabe Reef on October 12.

    Mike Hutchings / Reuters

    Dead seabirds are seen on the shore as thick fuel-oil from the stricken container ship Rena fouls beaches at Papamoa, near Tauranga, on October 12.

    Alan Gibson / AP

    Shipping containers that have fallen off the container ship Rena are washed up on the shore of Motiti Island on October 12.

     

  • New Zealand Defence Force via Reuters

    The 47,230 tonne Liberian-flagged Rena lists in heavy morning seas, about 12 nautical miles from Tauranga, on the east coast of New Zealand's North Island October 12, a week after hitting the Astrolabe Reef. The captain of the Rena has appeared this morning in the Tauranga District Court over the incident and has been remanded on bail, and about 70 containers fell from the vessel amid heavy seas last night, according to Maritime New Zealand.

    Oil spill is New Zealand's 'most significant' environmental disaster at sea

    By Rich Shulman

    This looks worse every day.

    As AP reports:

    WELLINGTON, New Zealand — An oil spill from a container ship stricken off New Zealand is now the country's "most significant maritime environmental disaster," a government minister said Tuesday.

    Environment Minister Nick Smith issued the warning as the weather deteriorated, sending clumps of thick fuel oil on to nearby beaches.

    Previous post: Oil stretches for miles, washes up on beaches after ship strikes New Zealand reef

  • Natacha Pisarenko / AP

    A volunteer cleans a beach stained with fuel oil leaked from the Liberian-flagged container ship Rena in Tauranga, New Zealand, Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2011. The 775-foot ship, carrying 1,700 tons of fuel oil and 2,100 shipping containers on board, has been foundering since it ran aground last Wednesday on the Astrolabe Reef, about 14 miles from Tauranga Harbour.

    Oil stretches for miles, washes up on beaches after ship strikes New Zealand reef

    WELLINGTON, New Zealand — Small amounts of oil from a container ship stuck on a reef for days began washing up at a popular New Zealand beach on Monday, while work to extract oil from the vessel was called off because of weather concerns.

    The Liberia-flagged Rena struck the Astrolabe Reef about 14 miles from Tauranga Harbour early Wednesday, and has been foundering there since. The 775-foot ship has been leaking fuel, leading to fears it could cause an environmental disaster if it breaks apart.

    Read the full story here.

  • Alan Gibson / AP

    The container ship Rena sits stranded on a reef off the coast of Tauranga, New Zealand, Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2011. Authorities have been assessing whether any oil has spilled from the 236m cargo vessel Rena, which struck the Astrolabe Reef, north of Motiti Island in the early hours of Oct. 5.

    Container ship strikes reef off New Zealand coast

    New Zealand Herald reports:

    The vessel, which left Napier bound for Tauranga Port, is on a 10 degree list, but is stable on the reef.

    Two of its cargo holds are flooded, and pumps are being used to extract the water.

    "As a precautionary measure, fuel in tanks on the port side is being transferred to the starboard side," Maritime New Zealand said in a statement.

    Read the full story here.