Stern Section of M/V Rena Sinks – Before and After Photos

Heavy swells off the coast of New Zealand beginning this weekend have caused the stricken M/V Rena’s stern section to further slip off the Astrolabe Reef and sink into the sea. Here are some before and after photos from the scene.

Before – March 30

After – April 4

Maritime New Zealand said that starting Saturday swells of up to 12m began to batter the stricken vessel.

MNZ has confirmed that as a result a small amount of oil has been released from the wreck site and up to 11 additional containers have been lost from the bow section, which also suffered additional damage in the weather event.

As we know, the M/V Rena’s condition has been slowly deteriorating since the vessel ran aground on Astrolabe Reef near Tauranga, New Zealand in October, despite extensive salvage efforts.  By January the stern section had sunk almost completely after being battered by waves.

As of Monday, a total of 685 of the 1,368 containers onboard the M/V Rena when she grounded have been recovered, along with 1,300 of the total 1,712 tons of oil.

The latest weather forecast suggests that the swells could last until Sunday but had peaked on Tuesday/Wednesday.

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