HMNZS Manawanui survivors homeward bound
Crew and passengers from Royal New Zealand Navy ship HMNZS Manawanui will be flown home to Auckland tonight aboard a Royal New Zealand Air Force C-130J Hercules.
FILE PHOTO (): HMNZS Manawanui arrives in Funafuti Lagoon as part of Operation Render Safe 2022. Photo by Petty Officer Christopher Weissenborn.
Seventy-five people were rescued from HMNZS Manawanui over the weekend after it grounded on a reef in Samoa and subsequently sank.
As well as the crew, HMNZS Manawanui was carrying three passengers from the Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences and four from MetService, as well as military personnel from Fiji (2), Tonga(1) and Vanuatu(1).
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 will return tonight to RNZAF Base Auckland with 72 crew and passengers who will overnight at Defence facilities, have further de-briefings and be re-united with their families tomorrow afternoon.
Three passengers from another agency will return to New Zealand tomorrow via a commercial flight.
A second C-130H Hercules, which took freight to Samoa this morning, is also returning to New Zealand today.
A Court of Inquiry into the incident is 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,” Rear Admiral Golding said.
This is the first time the Royal New Zealand Navy has lost a commissioned ship since WWII.
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