WELLINGTON (Reuters) - Salvage teams raced on Monday to pump oil from a stricken container ship off the New Zealand coast ahead of bad weather which could split the vessel into two pieces spewing more oil onto local beaches.
The Liberian-flagged Rena has been stuck for 12 days on a reef 14 miles off Tauranga on the east coast of New Zealand's North Island, having already spilled about 350 tonnes of heavy toxic fuel and some of its hundreds of containers into the sea.
The authorities on the ship said pumping of oil from the 236-meter (775-foot) ship resumed on Sunday night and more than 20 tonnes of the oil, as thick as peanut butter, has been pumped through holes cut in the side of the ship to a nearby barge.
Salvage teams said they were making slow progress as they cope with toxic fumes, the thickness of the oil, and the fragile state of the ship, which is pivoting around on the reef.
"That ship is very, very sick. She is fractured, she is broken, she is on her knees," Matt Watson of the Svitzer salvage company told Radio New Zealand.
He said the ship is just holding together in the current favourable conditions, but forecast bad weather later in the day could spell further environmental disaster.
"There probably will be more oil leaving that vessel if the weather turns nasty again," Watson said.
Around 1,100 tonnes of fuel are still in the ship, most of it if tanks in the stern of the ship.
Maritime NZ said beaches that had been fouled with dinner-tray sized lumps of oil have been largely cleaned up after thousands of volunteers joined soldiers and specialists.
"We will be continuing to assess the state of local beaches, and if it is safe do so, with no threat to public health, we may look to re-open some beaches over the coming days," said spokesman Nick Quinn.
Oil has washed up along about 60 kms (37 miles) of the coast, which is popular with surfers and fishermen. More than 1200 birds have died in the spill, which is seen as New Zealand's worst environmental disaster in decades.
The ship's captain and second officer, both from the Philippines, are due to reappear in court on Wednesday on charges of operating the 47,320 tonne ship in a dangerous manner.
(Reporting by Gyles Beckford, editing by Michael Smith)
