Posted: 19 August 2008
Anxious wait as boat battered in Far North surf
Officials are maintaining an anxious vigil over a fuel-laden, wooden-hulled fishing boat which ran aground overnight and is today being battered by the surf at Waipapakauri, on Ninety Mile Beach.
The 22-metre, Northland-based Kumea II was understood to have about 8000 litres of diesel fuel aboard when it washed ashore at Waipapakauri, north-west of Kaitaia, about 6pm yesterday.
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The Kumea II on Ninety Mile Beach at 7.30am on 19 August, 2008.
An undetermined amount of diesel is thought to have escaped overnight but Jim Lyle, Northland Regional Council’s Opua-based Deputy Regional Harbourmaster, says checks this morning had not revealed any traces of it.
Mr Lyle says preventing further fuel from escaping – and removing diesel still aboard the Kumea II – will be a priority for officials today at the popular shellfish-gathering beach.
The 24-year-old wooden-hulled vessel could not be accessed this morning as it was being pounded in the heavy surf, scattering buoys, fish bins and other debris along the beach.
Mr Lyle says Regional Council staff are liaising with the vessel’s Auckland-based insurance assessor and hoped to be able to access the Kumea II at low tide later this afternoon.
He says the vessel will probably need to be salvaged from land.
The Kumea II got into difficulty yesterday when it reportedly began taking on water about three nautical miles off Shipwreck Bay, Ahipara around midday.
Its four crew had managed to shut off the vessel’s fuel – containing it in steel fuel tanks - but had had to abandon the boat as it took on water and were winched to safety by rescue helicopter.
Mr Lyle says he understood the crew were unhurt but had been unable to anchor the vessel which had subsequently washed ashore at Waipapakauri.
He says Regional Council staff would be keeping a close eye on the situation as it develops today.
Regional Council Regional Harbourmaster Ian Niblock says the Council will be attempting to minimise any environmental impacts from any diesel which might escape today.
However, he says the light nature of diesel compared to other oils meant it would probably break up very quickly in the rough seas in the area and was unlikely to cause any lasting environmental damage.