HMNZS MANAWANUI

Details are already starting to emerge of the frantic rescue efforts that saved the crew of the stricken vessel on Saturday evening and which continued until the early hours of Sunday.

HMNZS MANAWANUI at 8:31am Sunday 6 October, 2024

The country is still reeling from the sudden and shocking loss of HMNZS Manawanui on Sunday morning but details are already emerging of events before and after the vessel hit a reef on the southwest coast of Upolu Island, Samoa.

There were strong weather conditions at the time of the grounding and there remains marine warnings in effect due to a strong southeast wind flow which continues to prevail over Samoa’s marine waters. Southeasterly and easterly winds of up to 40 kph together with poor visibility were being reported at the time. Waves and swells in the area were also reported of 2.5 to 4 metres.

“Rescuers battled currents and winds that were pushing the life rafts and sea boats toward the reefs, while swells made the rescue effort particularly challenging,” the NZDF stated.

Samoan media has reported that local fishermen were not at sea in the area that night due to the adverse weather conditions.

The Acting Prime Minister of Samoa Tuala Iosefo Ponifasio told reporters on Sunday that authorities on the island received a distress call at 6:58 pm from the Rescue Coordination Centre in Wellington regarding a vessel that had run aground. 

Sunset that evening in Samoa was 6:23 pm and it was a Spring high tide at 7:41 pm.

The Samoa Observer has reported that the crew had just finished cleaning up the ship and were getting ready for dinner when it struck the reef.

The article speculates, “It is possible that the fire started from the kitchen but that will be ascertained by the investigation.” Whether the fire started on Saturday evening or the next morning is anyone’s guess at this stage.

Speaking to TVNZ’s Breakfast on Monday morning, Defence Minister Judith Collins suggested a power outage may have caused the ship to run aground.

“We need to find out what happened, apparently it lost power, I’m aware of that, and ended up aground on the reef,” she said.

Writing about the incident in the UK’s Telegraph earlier today, Commander Tom Sharpe, a former British Royal Navy Captain, observed that photos of the Manawanui before she sank show that she had Restricted in Ability to Manoeuvre (RAM) shapes hoisted - a signal to other ships that “due to the nature of her work, [the Manawanui] is restricted in her ability to deviate from her course”. Vessels use this signal in a variety of situations, including when dredging, surveying or undertaking underwater operations.

Commander Sharpe’s view is that the Manawanui was probably operating in navigationally tight waters, likely surveying an area whose charting information was dated, when mechanical failure or loss of power occurred.

Acting Prime Minister Ponifasio confirmed that a second call was received from Rescue Coordination at 7:19 pm which notified the Samoan authorities that the decision had been made by the Commanding Officer that the vessel’s crew would have to abandon ship due to taking on too much water, prompting the immediate deployment of rescue boats. 

The NZDF has reported that the crew began evacuating at 7:52 pm into four life boats and two rigid hull inflatable boats. Commander Sharpe observed that most evacuation systems work in certain sea states but when considering that this evacuation was done at dark, in terrible weather and into rubber lifeboats with no engines, surrounded by the reefs that they had just struck, the crew did well not to have any major injuries or fatalities.

The Samoa Observer has reported that it took the first survivors five hours to get to shore because of the strong currents and high waves and that one of the small boats “flipped on the reef” during the rescue attempt.

Reports in the local press record that the first crew member was rescued at 1 am with the last recovered at 5:30 am local time.

There will undoubtedly be many stories of the rescues that occurred that evening. The crew struggled for hours to get the lifeboats away from the reefs.

One eyewitness to the unfolding drama told me yesterday that a young naval crew member stripped down and went into the water from a lifeboat and swam a distance in 4 metre seas to an outrigger that had been taken out by some of the locals. Taking the outrigger back to the lifeboat they managed to pull the lifeboat through a gap in the reef but only after several hours of battling the seas.

On Sunday afternoon locals managed to pull to shore a life boat used during the rescue operation that had been abandoned on the reef. 

One of two dispatched boats on the Manawanui was also still sitting out at sea and locals were told that a New Zealand team would be clearing it up. 

The story emerging is one of the human side of survival in treacherous conditions, Kiwi guts and amazing efforts made by Samoan marine, fire and police as well as locals.

And why was the Manawanui charting a reef to the west of Si’umu which locals regard as one of Samoa’s best surf spots? The ship went down 1.5 nautical miles from the Sinelai Reef Resort & Spa - generally considered the best resort in Samoa.

The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting will be held in Apia from 21 October and the local press have already confirmed that King Charles III will be staying at the Sinelai when he arrives on 25 October to participate in CHOGM.

In an interview with the Samoa Observer in June, the owner of the Sinalei Resort, Tuatagaloa Joe Annandale confirmed that they will host the British Monarch and that “security checks are continuing”.

“What is confirmed is that the British delegation will be hosted here and for the arrival of His Majesty, the security inspections are still ongoing,” he said.

“There is official confirmation that the King will be coming to the meeting which was questioned due to his medical condition but he has now confirmed that he is coming.”

Annandale confirmed that the resort would be closed for at least one week before the arrival of the British Monarch.

Security checks will undoubtedly include the coastal waters in front of the Sinelai including scanning the reef for gaps, bommies, access points for evacuation plans and possible threats.

An eyewitness has recounted to me that one of the rigid hull inflatables from the Manawanui had in fact come ashore at the Sinelai Resort late Saturday afternoon before returning to its parent vessel shortly before the incident occurred.

On Monday evening, the HMS Tamar, a 90 metre British Royal Navy patrol vessel could be seen from the Sinelai. The Tamar had arrived in Suva last Wednesday evening, spending two days in port before departing for Samoa on Friday.

The Samoa Observer has reported, “The security operation includes a multi-national policing effort. Samoa Police will be joined by Australia, New Zealand and Fiji counterparts. Each top delegate would also bring their security entourage as well.”

“The Australian Navy will also bring in a naval ship to patrol the borders while there is an expectation that the United States might also do the same.”

It is therefore, highly possible, that HMNZS Manawanui was performing duties connected with CHOGM and the imminent arrival of King Charles at the Sinelai Resort. That point may never be officially confirmed but there are undoubtedly many stories of bravery that will be told in the coming weeks and months regarding the Manawanui and the rescue of her crew.