It is understandable that human errors – like the one that led to the sinking of the HMNZS Manawanui – happen, a Samoan official involved in the recovery and clean-up says.
An interim report released on Friday found that the grounding of the New Zealand Navy ship in early October was due to a series of human errors, including the crew not turning off the ship’s autopilot when they should have.
Afioga Fui Tupai Mau Simanu, who is the chair of Samoa’s Marine Pollution Advisory Committee, said he had been briefed about the interim report by the New Zealand Defence Force’s representative in Samoa, Commodore Andrew Brown.
“We’re humans and those things happen,” he said of the interim findings.
“We just appreciate the fact that the New Zealand government continues to be transparent and is upfront with the works, and whatever’s been going on.”
Afioga said his current focus was on the salvaging programme to extract fuel from the wreckage of the Manawanui, which was expected to begin soon.
Afioga Fui Tupai Mau Simanu.
Photo: RNZ/ Susana Lei’ataua
He said some of the extraction equipment had arrived, however they were still waiting for a New Zealand barge to arrive to assist with the process.
The barge was originally set to sail from Whangārei last Wednesday, but he had since been told it had left on Friday.
He said in the meantime, local efforts had done everything “humanly possible” to contain the spill.
The full extraction process would take about a month, Afioga said.
United States coastguards would be arriving next week to ensure a a transparent process and to avoid any conflict of interest, he said.
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