Extraction of Diesel Fuel from HMNZS Manawanui Completed

By Lagi Keresoma/

Apia, Samoa – 07 March 2025 – The extraction of diesel fuel and other pollutants from the sunken HMNZS Manawanui vessel off the coast of Safata is completed.

New Zealand Defence Force Senior National Representative, Commodore Andrew Brown said the salvors have reached and checked all tanks and in some cases compartments, and other locations that could contain diesel fuel, and oil and other pollutants.

“In total 55 tanks or compartments were reached and checked. Ten tanks were not accessed as they were known to be either empty or not to contain pollutants,” said Brown.

He noted that 284 dives were made with two divers per dive.

“This was some of the most challenging diving operations, accessing the ship’s hardest to reach tanks and those at the very bottom of where Manawanui lays on its side,” he said.

He said the tanks have been sealed after the extraction of liquids.

Brown confirmed that over 320,000 litres of diesel fuel mixed with seawater has been removed and from this just over 300,000 litres of usable diesel fuel has been extracted.

He said 45,000 litres of liquid including waste oils and diesel fuel/seawater has also been removed and will be returned to New Zealand and processed for safe disposal and the final amounts can be confirmed once assessments are complete.

“The recovery work has given us a clearer picture of the damage sustained to tanks during the grounding and we know diesel fuel escaped through damaged tanks and pipes. Some was consumed in the substantial fire on board before the ship sank. Our Navy divers also worked hard to contain and capture ongoing leaks,” he said.

He also confirmed that continuous environment monitoring has shown earlier diesel fuel that did escape to sea, dissipated relatively rapidly, evaporating from wind and wave action, as this type of light diesel fuel is known to do.

“This was also confirmed by an independent international assessment,” said Brown.

Removal of weapons & ammunitions
With the completion of the removal of diesel fuel and other pollutants, the salvors now concentrate on removing and securing equipment, weapons, ammunition and debris from in and around the ship.

“We’ll be taking the recovered items and all the remaining unprocessed liquid back to New Zealand for processing and safe disposal,” said Brown.

No Government assistance
To date, the Government of Samoa and New Zealand has not offered any financial assistance to the district whose livelihood and economic stability was affected by the leaked fuel from the sunken vessel.

This was confirmed by Safata 1 Member of Parliament Leaana Ronnie Posini.

“We received ST$50,000 from the Government of China and nothing from the New Zealand or Samoan Government,” he said.