New Zealand will compensate for Samoa $ 3.6 million for a shipwreck of the Navy ship a year after the ship sank

Wellington, New Zealand (AP) – The New Zealand government said on Monday that it had agreed to pay 10 million Samoan Tala ($ 3.6 million) in compensation to the Samoa government, a year after the New Zealand sailors promoted a ship of the navy grouped in a reef in the nation of the Pacific Island.

The 75 people on board were evacuated to security when the boat founded approximately 1.6 kilometers (one mile) of the Upolu coast, Samoa’s second largest island before it caught fire and sank. The wreck of HMNZS Manawanui remains in the site of October 6, 2024, and a decision has not been made about whether it has not been taken there.

The ship sank due to crew and ship failures, found an official investigation. The ship’s crew did not realize that the boat was in automatic pilot and believed that something else had gone badly when it crashed into the reef, according to a report that highlighted the lack of training, qualifications and experience among those on board.

The compensation announced by the New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters, was Monday the total amount requested by the Samoa Government, said a Peters spokesman. It will be extracted from New Zealand military funds.

“We have responded to the Samoa government application as a whole and in good faith,” Peters said in a statement. “We have always said we will do the right thing.”

The Samoa government did not immediately respond to a request for comments.

New Zealand officials would continue working with Samoa’s counterparts to decide the future of the accident, Peters said. The work has so far included the elimination of fallen shipping containers, pollutants and military equipment.

An independent evaluation of shipwrecks and environmental studies is expected, according to a statement by the New Zealand Army.

“It is nice to keep in mind that the monitoring of the Samoa Scientific Research Organization has shown that seawater in the area is clear and not contaminated by elevated hydrocarbons that results in the warning that fishing rises completely in February,” said Captain Rodger Ward of the New Zealand Defense Force in a statement.

The military recognized “the impact that sinking has had on the people of Samoa, particularly in the communities of the southern coast,” Ward said.

The specialized diving ship and the hydrographic vessel had been in service for New Zealand since 2019 and was surveying the reef in which it ran. Its sinking caused an alarm on the environmental catastrophe for the Samoa villagers who live on the coast where it overturned, who said they feared permanent damage to the fragile reef ecosystem.

The Army said the work was underway to implement the broad recommendations made by a Investigation Court on the disaster, which published its final report in April. Any disciplinary procedure against those on board have not yet been determined, according to Monday’s statement.

The ship, one of the only nine in the New Zealand Navy, was the first one that the country had lost in the sea since World War II.