No evidence of major fuel spill on Samoan reef where New Zealand navy ship sank

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Divers and marine experts found no evidence of a major fuel spill on a Samoan reef Tuesday after a New Zealand navy ship ran aground and sank, Samoa's deputy prime minister said.

All 75 people on board the HMNZS Manawanui evacuated safely as the boat foundered about a mile off the coast of Upolu, Samoa, early Sunday. The ship was one of only nine in New Zealand’s navy and was the first the country lost at sea since World War II.

Samoan Deputy Prime Minister Tuala Tevaga Iosefo Ponifasio had earlier said a fuel spill was “highly probable." But he said Tuesday there was no evidence of oil spilling onto the reefs, ashore and nearby area, except for “small leakages of oil coming from the vessel.” That had been contained using specialized equipment, Ponifasio said in a statement.

The vessel's passengers — including civilian scientists and foreign military personnel — left the vessel on life boats in “challenging conditions” and darkness, New Zealand’s Chief of Navy Rear Admiral Garin Golding told reporters. It took five hours for the first survivors to reach land, he said.

One person was treated in a hospital for minor injuries and has been discharged, the military said. Up to 17 others sustained cuts, bruises or suspected concussions. An Air Force plane carrying 72 people from the ship landed at an air base in Auckland on Monday night.

New Zealand will hold a court of inquiry into the loss of the ship. The cause of the accident is not known, but Defense Minister Judith Collins told 1News on Monday that she had been told a loss of power to the vessel had led to its grounding.

The specialist dive and hydrographic vessel had been in service for New Zealand since 2019, but was 20 years old and had previously belonged to Norway, Collins said. It was surveying a reef off the coast of Upolu, Samoa’s most populous island, when it ran aground on the reef and began taking on water.

Photos and videos taken from the shore appeared to show the ship listing before disappearing completely below the waves, with a large plume of smoke rising where it sank.

Manu Percival, a surfing tour guide who works in the area where the ship sank, told The Associated Press by phone that oil was not visible from the ship but debris had littered the water and shoreline, and locals were not gathering shellfish as they normally did. It was too soon to know if the “fragile” reef ecosystem had been damaged, he said.

Ponifasio said marine scientists were testing water samples from nearby beaches for any traces of oil.

The military said the ship, purchased for $100 million NZ dollars ($61 million) in 2018, was not covered by replacement insurance.

The state of New Zealand’s aging military hardware has prompted warnings from the defense agency, which in a March report described the navy as “extremely fragile,” with ships idle due to problems retaining the staff needed to service and maintain them. Of the navy’s eight remaining ships, five are currently operational.

Golding said the HMNZS Manawanui underwent a maintenance period before the deployment. The ship’s captain was an experienced commander who had worked on the vessel for two years, he said.

Follow AP's Asia-Pacific coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/asia-pacific

In this image released by New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF), crew of the HMNZS Manawanui that sank in Samoa on Oct. 6, 2024, walk from their plane after landing at RNZAF Base Auckland, from Samoa, in Whenuapai, New Zealand, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024. (Petty Officer Chris Weissenborn/NZDF via AP)

Smoke rises from the sinking HMNZS Manawanui in Upolu, Samoa, Sunday, Sept. 6, 2022. (Dave Poole via AP)

This image released by New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF), shows HMNZS Manawanui at the Three Kings islands off the coast New Zealand, on Dec. 1, 2023. (Petty Officer Chris Weissenborn/NZDF via AP)

No evidence of major fuel spill on Samoan reef where New Zealand navy ship sank

In this image released by New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF), HMNZS Manawanui arrives in Funafuti Lagoon, Tuvalu, on Sept. 7, 2022. (PO Christopher Weissenborn/NZDF via AP)

No evidence of major fuel spill on Samoan reef where New Zealand navy ship sank

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Saints defensive tackle Khalen Saunders probably left pop superstar Taylor Swift and his former team with some mixed feelings after a two-play series against the Chiefs in his return to Arrowhead Stadium on Monday night.

First, the big defensive tackle stopped Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce on an inside pass play when they had first-and-goal at the New Orleans 2. Then, on the very next play, Saunders watched Patrick Mahomes' pass bounce off JuJu Smith-Schuster’s hands and right into his waiting arms for his first career interception, which he returned on a 37-yard rumble as his own sideline went wild.

They were two of the biggest highlights for the Saints in a 26-13 loss to the defending Super Bowl champions.

“Coming from playing here for four years, and all the respect in the world for Patrick, you got to take advantage of the mistakes they make. And so just to be on the other end of the mistake that was made, man, that was special,” Saunders said.

“Wish we could’ve come out with a win," he added, "but you know, I think that we learned a lot about our team."

So how did Swift factor into everything?

For one thing, she has been dating Kelce for more than a year, and was back at Arrowhead Stadium to see him play after missing the Chiefs’ last two games on the road. For another, one of her backup dancers happens to be Saunders’ brother, Kameron.

The two-play sequence will surely wake up the conspiracy theorists who think the NFL is rigged, too. The ESPN telecast had just shown a picture of Kameron Saunders with Swift and Kelce during a trip to London, where the Chiefs tight end made a cameo in one of her performances at Wembley Stadium on her Eras Tour over this summer.

Kameron Saunders has also joined Swift in a suite to see games at Arrowhead Stadium in the past.

The football-playing Saunders brother was a third-round draft pick of the Chiefs in 2019, and he won a pair of Super Bowl rings over his first four seasons with them. But he signed with New Orleans as a free agent a couple of years ago, and he returned to Arrowhead Stadium for the first time to face his former team in front of Swift and a boisterous Chiefs crowd.

It was some of that inside knowledge that may have helped him on Kelce's reception.

“I knew it was coming. I know that little ‘tight end flip,'" Saunders said. “Man, I told you, there’s certain plays they just can’t run while I’m in the game. And a lot of them are screens and the tight end flip. I was on the scout team for a long time. I have been going against Trav and Pat for a long time. I know all the little tricks and stuff like that.”

As for his return skills on the interception ... well, the 324-pound tackle won't be mistaken for a sprinter any time soon.

“I was trying to get it home, man. Take it home. Them running back days flashed in my head,” Saunders said, "and I was like, ‘That’s 101 (yards). That’s a little ways to go.’ But I was trying to give us some real field position.”

The Saints wound up turning the turnover into a touchdown, closing within 16-13 early in the fourth quarter. But the Chiefs answered with a touchdown of their own before putting the game away with a late field goal.

“We got to continue going forward,” Saunders said. “This doesn’t do anything but guarantee that we won’t be any better than 14-3 and I believe that. I’ve been on teams that lost in Week 10 and didn’t lose no more. So stuff like that is always encouraging.”

AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl

Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce (87) catches a pass as New Orleans Saints defensive tackle Khalen Saunders (50) defends during the first half of an NFL football game Monday, Oct. 7, 2024, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

New Orleans Saints defensive tackle Khalen Saunders (50) intercepts a pass in the end zone during the second half of an NFL football game against the Kansas City Chiefs Monday, Oct. 7, 2024, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Ed Zurga)