The captain and the navigator of a ship that ran aground on a New Zealand reef last year in what authorities have called the country’s worst maritime environmental disaster were each sentenced yesterday to seven months in jail.
About 363 tonnes of fuel oil was spilled on Astrolabe Reef near Tauranga and at least 2,000 sea birds died following the Oct. 5 grounding of the cargo ship Rena.
Judge Robert Wolff of the Tauranga District Court sentenced the ship’s captain, Mauro Balomaga, and navigating officer, Leonil Relon, both of the Philippines.
Photo: Reuters
The two had already pleaded guilty to operating the ship dangerously and altering documents after the crash. They had earlier been granted name suppression by the court, but that expired when they were sentenced.
A preliminary report released by transport investigators in March found that the Rena took shortcuts to try to reach port by its deadline.
Maritime New Zealand, the agency responsible for shipping in New Zealand, said it was pleased with the sentences.
Maritime New Zealand director Keith Manch said in an e-mail yesterday that an investigation by his agency found that the two senior officers, who were responsible for navigating the ship, had breached basic principles of safe navigation in their rush to get to port. He said that even after a series of missteps, there was still a chance the men could have averted the disaster.
About 10 minutes before the 2am crash, he said, the reef appeared as an echo reading on the Rena’s radar.
“At this stage, there was sufficient time to make an effective alteration of course and avoid the reef,” Manch wrote.
Instead, the captain assumed the reading came from a small ship, Manch said. After unsuccessfully trying to look for the ship in the dead of night, Manch said, the captain dismissed it as a false reading and continued.
Manch said that both officers acknowledged making alterations after the grounding to the ship’s GPS log, its passage plan and its computer to mislead investigating authorities.
“This offending is also very serious in that it caused genuine confusion for investigators trying to piece together the events that led to the grounding,” he said. “It is vital that when these types of events do take place, we can find out how and why they have happened to help prevent such an event happening again.”
Costamare, the Greek-based company that owns the Rena, said in a statement that it acknowledged the verdict against the two men.
“We will continue to meet our responsibilities, as their employer, to ensure their welfare and that of their families, as they complete their sentences,” the company wrote.
The wreck of the Rena remains on the reef. It split in two earlier this year, with the stern section sinking and the bow section remaining above water.
Beijing’s continued provocations in the Taiwan Strait reveal its intention to unilaterally change the “status quo” in the area, the US Department of State said on Saturday, calling for a peaceful resolution to cross-strait issues. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) reported that four China Coast Guard patrol vessels entered restricted and prohibited waters near Kinmen County on Friday and again on Saturday. A State Department spokesperson said that Washington was aware of the incidents, and urged all parties to exercise restraint and refrain from unilaterally changing the “status quo.” “Maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait is in line with our [the
EXTENDED RANGE: Hsiung Sheng missiles, 100 of which might be deployed by the end of the year, could reach Chinese command posts and airport runways, a source said A NT$16.9 billion (US$534.93 million) project to upgrade the military’s missile defense systems would be completed this year, allowing the deployment of at least 100 long-range Hsiung Sheng missiles and providing more deterrence against China, military sources said on Saturday. Hsiung Sheng missiles are an extended-range version of the Hsiung Feng IIE (HF-2E) surface-to-surface cruise missile, and are believed to have a range of up to 1,200km, which would allow them to hit targets well inside China. They went into mass production in 2022, the sources said. The project is part of a special budget for the Ministry of National Defense aimed at
READY TO WORK: Taiwan is eager to cooperate and is hopeful that like-minded states will continue to advocate for its inclusion in regional organizations, Lai said Maintaining the “status quo” in the Taiwan Strait, and peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region must be a top priority, president-elect William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday after meeting with a delegation of US academics. Leaders of the G7, US President Joe Biden and other international heads of state have voiced concerns about the situation in the Strait, as stability in the region is necessary for a safe, peaceful and prosperous world, Lai said. The vice president, who is to be inaugurated in May, welcomed the delegation and thanked them for their support for Taiwan and issues concerning the Strait. The international community
COOPERATION: Two crewmembers from a Chinese fishing boat that sank off Kinmen were rescued, two were found dead and another two were still missing at press time The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) was yesterday working with Chinese rescuers to find two missing crewmembers from a Chinese fishing boat that sank southwest of Kinmen County yesterday, killing two crew. The joint operation managed to rescue two of the boat’s six crewmembers, but two were already dead when they were pulled from the water, the agency said in a statement. Rescuers are still searching for two others from the Min Long Yu 61222, a boat registered in China’s Fujian Province that capsized and sank 1.03 nautical miles (1.9km) southwest of Dongding Island (東碇), it added. CGA Director-General Chou Mei-wu (周美伍) told a