Oil from ship grounded off New Zealand reaches shore

Fist-sized clumps of oil have been found on Mount Maunganui beach on the North island.

The container ship, the 775-foot (236m) Rena, ran aground on the Astrolabe Reef on Wednesday.

Crews are trying to pump oil off the vessel but bad weather has been hampering efforts.

So far up to 30 tonnes of oil or fuel are believed to have leaked into the sea.

Officials fear that if the ship breaks up in bad weather 1,700 tonnes of fuel could be spilled.

'Round the clock'

A tanker is moored alongside the vessel to offload the oil, but on Monday work was halted after only 10 tonnes had been removed because of high winds.

More bad weather is forecast later in the week and Maritime New Zealand (MNZ) said the off-loading operation would be carried out as fast as possible.

"The weather is expected to deteriorate in the coming days, so we are working around the clock to remove the oil," it said in a statement.

"The top priority is to first remove the oil, then lighten the vessel by removing the containers, and finally, move the ship off the reef."

About 200 people are involved in the salvage operation, while 300 military personnel are on stand-by to clean up beaches.

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