HMNZS Manawanui: New Zealand pays Samoa millions after naval ship crash

New Zealand’s government has paid Samoa 10m Samoan Tala (NZD 6m; £2.6m) after one of its naval ships crashed into a reef in Samoan waters before catching fire and sinking last year.

HMNZS Manawanui started leaking oil into the ocean after it sank, with reports of sea turtles dying and slicks appearing on nearby Samoan beaches.

New Zealand’s Foreign Minister Winston Peters said the payment had been made at Samoa’s request.

HMNZS Manawanui was the first ship New Zealand lost at sea since World War Two. It was one of nine ships in the country’s small naval fleet, and had been surveying an area of sea floor that had not been mapped in decades when it ran aground.

All 75 people aboard were successfully rescued from the vessel as it began listing off the coast of the Samoan island Upolu exactly a year ago.

Despite being seen billowing smoke as it went down, Samoan officials later said that not all its fuel had burnt off and the ship had leaked oil from various locations – sparking concerns about local marine wildlife.

Since the ship’s grounding, HMNZS Manawanui has remained on the reef but diesel fuel, oil and other pollutants have been removed from the ship while a New Zealand naval team was tasked with removing debris.

Peters said in a statement that the New Zealand government was continuing to work with Samoa’s on decisions relating to the ship and its future.

“We recognise the impact the sinking has had on local communities and acknowledge the disruption it caused,” he said.

He added that “minimising any possible environmental impacts and supporting the response” were “our absolute priorities”.

Any disciplinary proceedings were yet to be determined but the New Zealand Defence Force was reaching the end of its investigation, he said.

An inquiry into the incident found a series of human errors, including a failure to disengage the ship’s autopilot, was the root cause of the crash.

In the days after the crash, social media users started trolling the ship’s female captain, claiming her gender was to blame.

These commenters were denounced at the time by New Zealand’s defence minister as “armchair admirals”.