Oil spill from ship is the worst oceanic disaster faced by NZ (Mian Shakeel Aslam)

Mian Shakeel Aslam---An oil slick from a cargo ship failed to New Zealand, the country's worst maritime disaster of the environment, the government said.

Officials say 300 tons of oil escaped from the 775FT (236m) Rena, which ran aground off the Astrolabe Reef off the port of Tauranga on Wednesday.

Bad weather has interrupted the work of the oil pump from the ship will get worse.

Environment Minister Nick Smith said the situation would be "much worse" in the coming days.

"This event has a stage where it is New Zealand's largest maritime disaster of the environment to come," he said at a news conference in Tauranga.

"It is my view that the tragic events that we have become absolutely inevitable that the conduct of the point Rena ran on the reef in the early morning hours of Wednesday morning were," he said.

"The Government is committed to a course based on minimizing the environmental impact of what is now clear to take the worst environmental disaster in New Zealand for many decades."

Mr Smith said the speed of the bubble with oil from the ship was, had increased "fivefold" since it ran aground.

"Main Tank evil"

Maritime New Zealand (Home Office) told the media that have been Tuesday night 200 to 300 tonnes from the main tank of the ship hit escape.

The oil is to the south-west to Mt Maunganui, Tauranga next to the North Island, said a spokesman for the Ministry of the Interior New Zealand Herald.

"One of the main tank was injured. It is very important in the scheme of things, "said the spokesman.

MNZ said that the ship was intact, but listing 18 degrees, but did not change in its structural integrity. The weather is expected to worsen over the next 24-48 hours.

There were fears of a break in bad weather the ship could take all 1700 tons of heavy fuel on board and loss of cargo.

A navigational warning issued in containers fall into the sea
MNZ said a naval officer was hospitalized Tuesday morning after being injured were taken as the remaining crew to be evacuated from the Rena.

Pieces of heavy oil are already stranded on the beaches of Mt Maunganui and Papamoa the nearby community and is expected to Tauranga Harbour and the beaches in the south, reaching Maketu.

MNZ head Catherine Taylor said the oil would be difficult, given the position on a reef Rena and abuse weather in the region.
Increases of up to 4m to make the use of oil dispersants difficult.

Taylor told the media, it would take several weeks to clean up the coast.
Awanui the tanker, which had been relieved was oil on the rear port on Monday for minor repairs.

When the time is moved, it is again the transfer of oil from the ship, the container is removed, then Rena can be moved to the reef.
Officials and residents are affected beaches in the vicinity was closed in exposed coastal areas told to stay away from the coast and do not Globs heavy oil.

"Although it looks bad, oil in their state of agglutinated no risk going anywhere, and people try to take the risk without proper training or equipment to remove the situation," said MNZ .

About 200 people are involved in the rescue, while 300 soldiers are waiting for clean beaches.

"People are angry that this happened on our doorstep, and it could really ruin one of the best beaches in the area," one local man, Jim kohu, told the Reuters news agency.

The area of ​​long sandy beaches are popular with tourists and surfers.Environmentalists have warned that oil spills remains a major threat to the region rich in wildlife.

Posted By: Mian Shakeel Aslam

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-15251319