Seven months prison for Rena captain and officer

Dominique Schwartz, New Zealand correspondent

Last Updated: Sat, 26 May 2012 00:07:00 +1000

The captain and navigational officer of a cargo ship which ran aground off New Zealand last year have each been sent to prison for seven months.

Rena hit a reef in the Bay of Plenty seven months ago, spilling hundreds of tonnes of oil and hundreds of shipping containers.

When the reef appeared on the radar, the court heard, the captain took no action to avoid it, assuming it was a false signal or a small vessel.

On Friday, the Filipino Captain Mauro Balomaga and his fellow countryman and second officer Leonil Relon were told their navigational behaviour came very close to being reckless.

The pair endeavoured to cover up their mistakes by changing ship documents after the grounding.

The Tauranga district court Judge Bob Wolff said a prison terms was needed to send a clear message that trying to pervert the course of justice is unacceptable.

The clean-up from what has been called New Zealand's worst environmental maritime disaster continues.

Maritime authorities say the oil has largely dispersed, but cargo and debris is still washing ashore.

The Rena ran onto a charted reef off the Bay of Plenty last October spilling more than 300 tonnes of oil and sending hundreds of shipping containers overboard.

The World Wildlife Fund in New Zealand says it hopes similar events can be prevented from happening in the future.

"What I think the question really needs to be put is that the government has got this environmental effects legislation which is looking at controlling oil spills and the like in the economic zone," the WWF's marine advocate Bob Zur told Radio Australia.

"The question is how much has the government learned from this disaster rather than necessarily prosecuting some foolish seamen."

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