Oil still leaking from grounded cargo ship in New Zealand as more cleaned birds released

Oil still leaking from grounded cargo ship in New Zealand as more cleaned birds released
Oil is continuing to leak from a cargo ship that grounded on a New Zealand reef almost eight weeks ago, shipping authority officials announced Monday, as more cleaned birds were released into the wild.

Small amounts of oil would continue to leak out of the badly damaged Liberian-flagged Rena, which ran on to the Astrolabe Reef, about 12 nautical miles off the east of the North Island on Oct. 5, Maritime New Zealand (MNZ) national on-scene commander Rob Service said in a statement.

"There is still some residual oil in the fuel tanks, the duct keel and other parts of the ship that the salvors haven't been able to reach. There is a risk that more oil could be lost from those areas if the vessel's condition changes. A sheen of oil was again visible this morning extending from the vessel."

Service said the sheen of oil extending from the vessel was monitored daily by trained observers.

"Our observers look for patches of darker oil which indicate higher volumes of oil in the water. They are also monitoring the direction of the oil to ensure we are ready for any fresh oil reaching the shore."

Service said the sheen had remained around the vessel stretching in an offshore direction for weeks.

"We are reviewing our plans to ensure we are able to maintain the level of equipment and personnel to deal with a whole range of possible scenarios into the next few weeks, and over Christmas."

Also Monday, another 38 cleaned little blue penguins were released, joining 56 other birds released to return to their normal nesting grounds, after being treated in the oiled wildlife center.

National oiled wildlife response team coordinator Kerri Morgan said in a statement from MNZ that about 240 penguins were still at the wildlife center while their habitats were checked to ensure they are clean enough for their return.

"Only a small number of oiled birds have been found in the last few weeks, but we are still looking," she said.

All birds released had passed a six-hour continuous swimming test, as well as having the salt in their swimming pools increased to ensure they could tolerate the return to salt sea water.

Meanwhile, salvors removed another 26 containers from the ship Monday, bringing the total number of containers removed to 145.

Two senior officers of the Rena's Filipino crew have been charged in connection with the vessel's grounding and the subsequent pollution.

Editor: Liu

English.news.cn   2011-11-28 13:45:17 FeedbackPrintRSS
WELLINGTON, Nov. 28 (Xinhua)