WELLINGTON, New Zealand, Jan. 12 (UPI) -- A light sheen of oil stretches roughly 6 miles from a stricken cargo vessel off the northern coast of New Zealand, responders said.
Cargo vessel Rena struck a reef in the Bay of Plenty in October, dumping around 2,000 barrels of oil into the sea. Maritime New Zealand, the agency responding to the disaster, managed to get most of the oil out of the stricken vessel, now sinking, by December.
As much as 75 percent of the ship is now underwater. MNZ said it expected waves in the area to reach 15 feet by Friday before calmer weather prevails during the weekend.
MNZ said it observed a dark sheen thought to be residual oil from Rena measuring around 12,000 square feet. A lighter sheen was seen stretching about 6 miles from the wreck, the agency said in a statement Thursday.
New Zealand authorities said there was some sheen seen near islands in the area, but some of those were thought to be algae blooms.
Some soiled birds were rescued by those responding to the residual oil leak. Crews had deployed containment boom near the area, and volunteer responders were deployed to area beaches in the event oil reaches the shore.
