‘Bad day’: New Zealand navy ship runs aground and sinks off Samoa

The commanding officer of a NZ navy vessel that sank off Samoa has been praised for saving lives after giving the order to abandon ship.

The commanding officer of a New Zealand navy vessel that ran aground and sank off Samoa while conducting a reef survey has been praised for saving lives.

All 75 people on board HMNZS Manawanui were rescued after emergency services worked through the night to rescue dozens of crew from the smouldering and sinking ship.

HMNZS Manawanui struck the reef off the south coast of Upolu late on Saturday.

The $100 million ship was listing heavily early on Sunday morning before it capsized and sank at around 9am.

HMNZS Manawanui ran aground off the Samoan island of Upolu. Picture: X @pooliecoast

Commanding officer Yvonne Gray, a former Royal Navy officer, ordered all hands to abandon ship on Saturday night — which New Zealand’s Defence Minister and senior navy commanders said was the right call.

“This is a ship that, unfortunately, is pretty much gone,” Defence Minister Judith Collins told a press conference on Sunday, per The Post. “This could have been a truly terrible day [if there had been loss of life], but actually it is a bad day.”

The exact cause of the wreck is not yet known and will go before a court of inquiry, but Chief of Navy, Rear Admiral Garin Golding, said the commanding officer “made the decision and it was the right decision”.

He added losing one of the navy’s five crewed ships was a “significant loss”.

Commander Yvonne Gray gave the order to abandon ship. Picture: NZDF

Originally from Harrogate, North Yorkshire, Commander Gray began her career in the UK’s Royal Navy in 1993 as a warfare officer, according to a 2022 military profile.

She moved to New Zealand with her wife Sharon in 2012 and joined the Royal New Zealand Navy.

She took the helm of HMNZS Manawanui in December 2022, her first ship command.

“Sure, for a lot of warfare officers, that’s the pinnacle of their career to get to ‘drive’ a ship,” Commander Gray said at the time. “I prefer to think of my career as a ridge line, sometimes the view is good and sometimes it is better.”

Samoan emergency services said a fire rescue team worked “from last night until this morning” to collect and treat the 75 people on board, which included seven civilians and four military personnel from other forces.

New Zealand bought the $100 million ship in 2019. Picture: NZDF

“Fortunately, no one was heavily injured and no lives were lost,” Samoa Fire and Emergency Services Authority said.

New Zealand Commodore Shane Arndell confirmed that “the 75 crew and passengers on board HMNZS Manawanui have made it to safety in Samoa”.

The HMNZS Manawanui was used for hydrographic surveys, diving operations and marine salvage and featured a 100-tonne sea crane.

It was on its third deployment to the South West Pacific this year, leaving Devonport on September 28 and due to return on November 1.

The 85-metre-long ship was built in 2003 and purchased from Norway in 2019, when it was described as a “game changer” by then-Defence Minister Ron Mark.

All 75 on board were rescued. Picture: Samoa Fire and Emergency Services Authority

Mr Mark told The Post he was puzzled about the incident as the ship was “top of the line”. “It’s confusing how she’s in this situation right now,” he said.

“She’s a hydrographic ship. She has some of the best equipment on board for surveying the sea floor. I’m keenly interested to know what brought the circumstances out.”

It had been conducting a hydrographic survey one nautical mile from shore in difficult conditions.

Samoan authorities had issued a marine warning for the island’s south coast over the weekend.

Winds of up to 40 kilometres per hour and ocean swells of up to four metres were forecast around the time of the incident.

The New Zealand military said rescuers had battled currents and winds that pushed the life rafts and sea boats toward the reefs and “swells made the rescue effort particularly challenging”.

Two on board were taken to hospital, one with a dislocated shoulder and another with a hurt back. Around a dozen suffered minor cuts and abrasions from walking on the reef after one of the life rafts capsized.

Attention is now turning to the potential of an oil spill.

The military said it was trying to “understand the implications and minimise the environmental impacts” of the wreckage.

— with AFP