Crew and passengers of Royal New Zealand Navy specialist dive and hydrographic vessel HMNZS Manawanui were rescued in the early hours of the morning on Sunday in Samoa after the vessel was grounded off the southern coast of Upolu, Samoa.
“Seventy-five people were rescued from HMNZS Manawanui over the weekend after it grounded on a reef in Samoa and subsequently sank,” the New Zealand Defence Force confirmed on Monday.
The C-130J, which flew to Apia on Sunday evening, was carrying medical and welfare personnel, as well as a dive team and light clean-up equipment.
“It is returning tonight to RNZAF Base Auckland with 72 crew and passengers. They will overnight at Defence facilities, have further de-briefings and be re-united with their families tomorrow afternoon,” the defence force said in a statement on Monday.
Three passengers from another agency will return to New Zealand on October 8 via a commercial flight.
A second C-130H Hercules aircraft, which took freight to Samoa on Monday morning, is also returning to New Zealand today.
According to New Zealand’s defence force, a court of inquiry into the incident is in the process of being set up.
Chief of Navy, Rear Admiral Garin Golding, said the full resources of the New Zealand Defence Force were being made available to support personnel with medical checks, debriefings, psychological support and welfare. Some people had required medical treatment.
All those who had been on board HMNZS Manawanui had been given food and support, and issued with supplies such as dry clothes, shoes and toiletries while they were accommodated in Apia.
Rear Admiral Golding said the New Zealand response was focused on supporting the Samoan Government to understand possible environmental impacts from the incident and reduce those as much as possible, with teams from across multiple agencies involved.
“There are assessment teams with specialist skills from a range of agencies who are supporting this response.”
HMNZS Manawanui was acquired to close the capability gap created with the decommissioning of the survey ship HMNZS Resolution in 2012 and the dive tender HMNZS Manawanui in early 2018.
The ship was purchased by the ministry of defence in 2018 and entered service with the Royal New Zealand Navy in 2019.
