Preparations to continue pumping oil from the cargo ship that ran aground off the coast of New Zealand were underway today as calmer weather offered a respite to salvage teams.
Two salvage crews are on the MV Rena which is sitting on the Astrolabe Reef, 14 miles off the Bay of Plenty, where it ran aground last week and divers are surveying the damage to the crippled ship.
The crews are preparing to cut holes in the stern to get to the tanks holding about 1,000 tonnes of fuel. But New Zealand’s marine authority admitted that no oil would be pumped from the ship today. Bruce Anderson, spokesman for Maritime NZ, said: “We shouldn’t anticipate any pumping of oil today.”
The operation, he said, was