Salvage workers in New Zealand have launched an all-out attempt to remove nearly 2,000 tonnes of oil from a container ship aground on a reef off one of the country's most spectacular coastlines.
The New Zealand navy has sent four ships to where the Rena is stuck, on a reef near the port of Tauranga on the North Island.
Bruce Anderson, the salvage manager for Maritime New Zealand's monitoring and response team, told the BBC much of the oil was still aboard the ship, but the situation did have the potential to be a "significant environmental disaster".
bbc