A dead bird is seen on the Mount Manganui beach after being washed ashore stained with fuel oil. The fate of fur seals as well as birds such as the endangered New Zealand dotterel seems worrisome as the oil in the ocean is going to be disaster for marine wildlife, for the people and for New Zealand.
A member of the rescue team removes fuel oil that was washed on to the beach from the Liberian-flagged container ship MV Rena. A salvage crew had to be removed from the ship late on Tuesday morning because ocean swells of 7-to-10 feet made conditions too dangerous. The swells were expected to increase as high as 16 feet.
People, stand on the Papamoa Beach dirtied by fuel oil spilled from the Liberian-flagged container ship Rena which was hit by a reef off the coast of Tauranga, New Zealand on Wednesday.
People remove fuel oil that was washed on to the Mount Maunganui Beach from the Liberian-flagged container ship Rena. A beach clean-up began early on Tuesday and more teams would be deployed on Wednesday when oil is expected to reach the shore in greater quantities.
Shipping containers float in the water around the cargo ship Rena that has been foundering since it ran aground on Oct. 5 on the Astrolabe Reef, from Tauranga Harbour, New Zealand. The condition of the stricken cargo ship that is leaking oil worsened on Wednesday, with about 70 containers falling overboard and the vessel moving onto a steeper lean. Photo: AP
The cargo ship Rena is battered by waves. Late on Monday, the 775-foot ship shifted significantly, spilling hundreds of tons of oil from an unidentified rupture in the hull.
Shipping containers that have fallen off the container ship Rena are washed up on the shore of Motiti Island on Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2011. Rough weather in recent days has kept salvage crews away.
A dead fish is seen next to a chunk of fuel oil on the Mount Manganui beach stained with oil leaked from the Liberian-flagged container ship Rena. Up to 390 tons of heavy fuel oil spilled from the hull on Tuesday, a rate about five times worse than during the initial days of the spill.
Volunteers take an oiled little blue penguin out of the pool after the recovering session at the wildlife facility in Tauranga, New Zealand on Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2011. The penguins were rescued from the sea following the Liberia-flagged container ship Rena that has been leaking fuel.
A helicopter sprays a dispersant on an oil slick from the Liberian-flagged container ship MV Rena that is stuck hard aground on a reef 12 nautical miles off the coast of Tauranga, New Zealand. The 775-foot ship has 1,700 tons of fuel oil and 2,100 shipping containers on board as it sits on the reef at a 10-degree list.