The captain and second officer of a ship that caused New Zealand’s biggest sea pollution disaster pleaded guilty to criminal charges yesterday and they could face lengthy jail terms, officials said.
The officers were in charge of the Liberian-flagged Rena when it plowed into a reef last year, releasing an oil slick that killed thousands of sea birds and fouled beaches on the North Island’s pristine Bay of Plenty.
The men, both Filipinos, pleaded guilty to operating a ship in a dangerous manner and attempting to pervert the course of justice by altering navigation records after the accident, Maritime New Zealand (MNZ) said.
At a hearing in the Tauranga District Court, the captain also admitted discharging harmful substances from the cargo vessel, MNZ said.
It said the men, whose names have been suppressed since they were released on bail last year over fears for their safety, could face lengthy jail terms. They are due to be sentenced on May 25.
The Rena hit the Astrolabe Reef 22km offshore in clear conditions as it steamed at full speed toward Tauranga, New Zealand’s largest container port, becoming stuck fast on the submerged rocks.
More than 300 tonnes of toxic fuel oil spewed from the vessel, creating an oil slick kilometers long, which washed onto beaches at the popular tourist spot, coating birds in thick black sludge.
New Zealand Environment Minister Nick Smith described it as the country’s worst maritime pollution disaster and said shortly after the accident that the Rena hit the reef while taking a shortcut to reach port.
The disaster triggered a dangerous salvage operation which involved crews scrambling to pump remaining oil from the Rena’s fuel tanks as heavy seas pounded the stricken vessel, opening up deep cracks in its hull.
An army of 5,000 volunteers was also mobilized to clean up the shoreline of the bay, which contains marine reserves and teems with wildlife, including whales, dolphins, penguins, seals and rare sea birds.
MNZ said this week that cleanup teams had removed more than a cubic kilometer of waste, such as polluted sand and soil, from the shoreline.
The vessel eventually broke up on the reef in January, when the stern sank, further complicating a salvage operation which is still continuing after five months as crews remove shipping containers from the bow.
Earlier this month, Smith estimated the disaster cleanup costs would total NZ$130 million (US$110 million), most of which would be covered by its owner, Greece-based Costamare Shipping Co.
New Zealand Prime Minister John Key said the guilty pleas vindicated the charges.
“It’s important justice [is] bought to bear here,” he told Fairfax Media. “Significant environmental damage [has] occurred in New Zealand and the government is very concerned about that.”
In total, the captain pleaded guilty to four criminal charges and the second officer to three. Each of the charges carries a maximum penalty of seven years in jail.
The charge of operating a ship in a dangerous manner can attract a one-year jail term, while the maximum sentence for discharging harmful substances is two years or a NZ$300,000 fine.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese