Samoa warns oil spill ‘highly probable’ after New Zealand navy ship sank

This image released by New Zealand Defence Force shows HMNZS Manawanui at the Three Kings islands off the coast New Zealand, on December 1 2023. (Petty Officer Chris Weissenborn/NZDF/AP)

An oil spill is “highly probable” from a grounded New Zealand navy ship which sank and caught fire off the coast of Samoa, the Pacific island nation’s acting prime minister said on Sunday.

Officials in Samoa are conducting an environmental impact assessment in the area where the ship sank on Sunday morning, acting Prime Minister Tuala Tevaga Iosefo Ponifasio said in a statement.