The government has approved the salvors to start laying out the anchors and underwater installations needed to secure the barge over the sunken New Zealand Navy ship, HMNZS Manawanui.

It has now been almost three months since the ship sank off the south coast of Upolu. While officials have stayed quiet, there has been a significant environmental and economic impact of the accident.

An accident that the New Zealand Navy’s Commission of Inquiry has labelled as human error. It was found that the ship remained in autopilot mode when it struck the reef. There has been no word if the New Zealand government would be compensating the villagers impacted.

There is a prohibition on fishing in the areas where the government has found diesel in the waters. These are families dependent on fishing for a livelihood.

The latest update from the NZDF said the salvors’ barge had arrived off the south-west coast of Upolu Samoa.

It is in the vicinity of HMNZS Manawanui. NZDF’s Senior National Representative for Operation Resolution, Commodore Andrew Brown, said being able to lay the anchors and underwater installations is an important step forward and brings closer the goal of removing fuel and other pollutants from the ship.

He said the underwater installations are critical to securing the barge in place in a range of sea states.  On board the barge is a large crane, anchoring and mooring equipment, specialist dive equipment, and “tank-tainers” to store the recovered fuel and other pollutants.

“We know how important the coastal and marine environments are to the people of Samoa, especially those on the south-west coast of Upolu. As always, progress is dependent on sea and weather conditions,” said Commodore Brown.

He said the anchoring plan put forward by the salvors for approval has been designed to have minimal impact on the reef and seabed.

It’s expected that the anchor and underwater installations will take a few days to put in place and following that the barge will be positioned and secured in place.

“Once the barge is securely moored above Manawanui the fuel extraction process will begin. It’s a day we’ve been looking forward to after months of planning,” said Commodore Brown.

He said the tempo of the operation is increasing, but the focus remains on carrying out a careful and thorough job.

“While this response is complex and technical, New Zealand is committed to doing the right thing,” said Commodore Brown.

There has been no timeline given on how long the salvage work would take or if the work poses a further risk of spill into the ocean. More than 200,000 litres of diesel has spilt into the ocean so far. That was the calculation given in the first month after the ship sank.

Pictures obtained by the Samoa Observer also showed that there was still significant debris on the ocean floor and the damage had been downplayed by Samoa and New Zealand authorities.