French and French Polynesian authorities have held an urgent meeting as plans are being drawn up to rescue a large cargo ship stuck on a reef of Raroia in the Tuamotus.

It has been revealed that the Philippines-registered vessel is carrying 20,000 tonnes of zinc and was on a trip from the United States to Australia when it developed engine problems last week.

The 132-metre long ship made no appeal for help and was discovered by locals after it hit the reef.

There is no sign of any marine pollution.

Eighteen people who are reportedly on the ship, Thorco Lineage, will for the time being remain on board.

Reports say the ship's owner and the insurance company are likely to dispatch a powerful tug from California to try to dislodge the ship.

It is expected that it will take about ten days to reach Raroia. </s> Seven survivors from a ferry which disappeared more than a week ago have been found by search and rescue teams in the Pacific Ocean.

The boat was found drifting in the search area on Sunday morning, eight days after the MV Buitraoi ferry, carrying around 50 people, went missing off the coast of Kiribati.

But 43 people are feared dead with the ferry still missing and more than half of the search area already covered.

The crew of a Royal New Zealand Air Force Orion plane located the boat two hours into the search on Sunday morning for the MV Butiraoi, a 17.5 metre wooden catamaran.

The New Zealand Defence Force confirmed the seven people found were on board the vessel after an air force plane spotted the small boat.

Authorities believe it was one of two boats carried on the side of the ferry.

All the people who were on board the ferry are thought to be locals.

Efforts are now being coordinated with a fishing vessel 92km away to pick up the survivors.

The FV Lomalo is expected to rendezvous with the survivors on Sunday afternoon, Air Commodore Darryn Webb, the Air Component Commander for the NZDF said.

'The Orion will continue to search the area, making every effort to locate any more survivors, while awaiting the rendezvous with the fishing vessel,' Air Commodore Webb added.

The missing ferry, which had 50 passengers on board, was due to arrive in Betio, the country's captial, on January 20 after departing Nonouiti Island.

“The group seem very relieved to have been found when the NZ Airforce Orion dropped supplies, including water and a radio, to them about 10am today,” said John Ashby, senior search and rescue officer of the Rescue Coordination Centre of New Zealand.

Local authorities said the boat ran aground and underwent repairs to its propeller shaft before it left Nonouti Island.

It has a high frequency radio but it is not known whether it has enough fuel and emergency supplies on board.

The 240km inter-island voyage was due to take two days to complete.

Seven people are on board the small five metre boat and teams from the NZ Orion aircraft have dropped emergency aid including a radio into the water.

A spokesman from the New Zealand Defence Force said they could not confirm whether the people are from the missing ferry.

Crews have attempted to reach communication with the boat but say they have not been able to ascertain its origin.

Rescue efforts are being co-ordinated between New Zealand, Fiji and Kiribati authorities.

The ferry is described as having a dark blue hull and yellow cabin fixed on top.

The Rescue Coordination Centre of New Zealand (RCCNZ) has so far scoured more than half of the possible search area - estimated to be the size of New Zealand.

Radio transmissions have been broadcast along the coastline and contact has been made with each island for sightings.

John Ashby, a senior search and rescue officer with the RCCNZ, said earlier: 'We are doing everything we can to locate this ferry and its passengers.

'We understand the vessel underwent repairs to its propeller shaft just before it departed. This may have contributed to problems navigating the journey.'

Kiribati is a collection of 33 islands with a population of 110,000 people, with the largest group located 1,500km north of Fiji. </s> French authorities are rushing to stop an oil spill from reaching the country's west coast after an Italian-registered cargo ship sank in the Bay of Biscay.

 

 Although the government's initial statement only said there had been "dangerous materials" on board the ill-fated Grande America, local officials told French news agency Agence France-Presse that the vessel was leaking oil.

The ship had been en route from Hamburg to Casablanca, carrying 2,000 vehicles and 2,200 tons of fuel, when a fire broke out late Sunday. The 26 crew members and single passenger were forced to abandon ship when it caught fire, and were rescued by Britain's Royal Navy.

The lifeboat was "bobbing around like a cork in a bathtub," HMS Argyll officer Lieutenant Commander Dave Tetchner was quoted as saying in news story on the Royal Navy's website.

"The conditions were horrendous — the vessels were rolling at 30 degrees which made it extremely hairy getting the sailors safely on board," he said.

The drifting ship, still in flames, finally sank on Tuesday about 180 nautical miles (333 kilometers) west of France.

Vice-Admiral Jean-Louis Lozier, France's maritime prefect for the Atlantic, said the Italian shipping company Grimaldi Group had been ordered to ensure that no toxic materials reached the French mainland.

Overnight on Wednesday, the French navy reportedly discovered an oil spill several kilometers long. In a statement, Grimaldi has said it was working with French authorities to prevent any damage to the environment.

Each evening at 1830 UTC, DW's editors send out a selection of the day's hard news and quality feature journalism. You can sign up to receive it directly here. </s> Almost 350 migrants are stranded on two boats in the Mediterranean, including a Danish cargo ship, as a standoff between nearby European countries deepened on Sunday.

The boats include German rescue ship, Lifeline, which picked up 234 people and 17 crew members off the coast of Libya on Thursday; and a cargo ship operated by Danish transportation company Maersk, which picked up another 113 migrants off the coast of Libya on Friday morning.

Both boats have been barred from docking at nearby Italy and Malta, as the countries urged other European nations to take in the stranded migrants.

The standoff comes weeks after Italy and Malta refused to accept another rescue ship, the Aquarius, which was carrying over 600 migrants. After two days drifting in the Mediterranean the migrants were accepted by Spain, exposing the tough new policies of Italy’s hardline interior minister and leader of the anti-immigration League party, Matteo Salvini.

‘Dear Salvini, we have no meat on board, just humans’

Salvini doesn’t appear to be backing down on his tough stance anytime soon. Last week he warned the Dutch-flagged ship operated by the German nongovernmental organization Lifeline, currently stranded in the Mediterranean with over 200 migrants on board, not to dock in Italian ports.

“You (Lifeline) did a show of strength by contravening the indications of the Italian and Libyan coast guard. Now, you’ll carry this human load to the Netherlands,” Salvini said in a Facebook live video from his office.

On Sunday, Lifeline responded to Salvini in a Twitter post, saying: “Dear @matteosalvinimi, we have no meat on board, but humans. We cordially invite you to convince yourself that it is people we have saved from drowning. Come here, you are welcome!”

Similarly, Italy has also refused to allow the Maersk cargo ship, which is carrying over 100 migrants and is located south of Sicily, to dock in its ports. That’s despite the Italian Maritime Rescue Coordination Center calling Maersk on Thursday night and asking for it to rescue the migrants, a Maersk spokesman told CNN.

The cargo ship had been traveling between Libya and Malta at the time, the spokesman said, adding that “it is now denied a port of entry and the company is awaiting further instruction from authorities.”

The ship is roughly three sea miles from the port of Pozzallo in Sicily, Italian Coast Guard press officer Commander Cosimo Nicastro told CNN. He added that of the 113 migrants rescued, five have since been brought to shore for medical reasons, including an eight-months pregnant woman and her partner, and a young girl that needed medical assistance with her mother and sister.

Lifeline ship near the coast of Malta

Axel Steier, a spokesman for Lifeline, told CNN Saturday that the ship was around 40 miles south of the Maltese coast.

However Malta has refused to allow the ship to dock, with Prime Miniser Joseph Muscat saying in a government statement that the rescue had taken place in the Libyan rescue zone and that it had been coordinated by the Italian authorities, and later by the Libyan authorities.

Given these circumstances, Malta is under no obligation to take in the ship, he said, even though the vessel is in the Maltese rescue zone.

That said, Malta has twice given food and drink supplies to the stranded ship, the Malta Ambassador to Italy, Vanessa Frazier, told CNN.

Meanwhile, the fiery exchange between Italy and Malta continued over the weekend, with Italian transportation minister Danilo Toninelli calling the Maltese decision not to allow the Lifeline to dock “inhumane” and “absurd” on his Facebook page on Saturday.

Malta’s Minister for Home Affairs and National Security, Michael Farrugia, responded with tweets asking Toninelli to get his facts right and accusing Lifeline of breaking “international rules.”

Immigration continues to be a controversial issue for EU member states. During the recent federal election campaign that led to Italy’s new government — a coalition between the anti-immigrant League and anti-establishment Five Star Movement — Salvini promoted his party with an “Italians first” slogan and pledged to deport half a million migrants.

At an informal EU summit on immigration in Brussels on Sunday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel appeared keen to manage expectations that European leaders could reach a broad agreement on migration, telling journalists that countries will need to work on bilateral and trilateral deals with one another instead of waiting for all 28 EU member countries to come to an agreement.

The Mediterranean remains the world’s deadliest migration route, despite sharp falls in the number of people trying to reach Europe by boat. That drop is partly ascribed to a deal struck between Italy and Libya last year, in which the southern European country pledged to bolster Libya’s coast guard so it could spot departing migrant boats and house migrants attempting to cross.

As of June 6, there had been an estimated 785 deaths on the route this year, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said, with the majority of the 33,400 migrants and refugees arriving through Greece and Italy. </s> Eurocopter 120 was carrying five people when it went down near Hardy Reef in north Queensland

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Two people have died in a helicopter crash off Queensland’s Whitsunday Islands, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau has said.

Five people were aboard the Eurocopter 120 when it went down near Hardy Reef pontoon at about 4.30pm on Wednesday, according to the Civil Aviation Safety Authority.

“A man and a woman who are believed to be international tourists were recovered from the helicopter and pronounced deceased at the scene,” a Queensland police statement said on Wednesday night.

One person is in a serious condition while the two others escaped with minor injuries. The three other people, including the male pilot and a male and female passenger, also believed to be from overseas, were to be taken by sea to a medical facility for treatment.

Police and other emergency service vessels headed to Hardy Reef with the crash site about 65km north-east of the Whitsundays.

The helicopter is believed to have hit the water 250 metres from the Hardy Reef pontoon.

The pontoon has underwater viewing chambers and the reef is popular with tourists because of its combination of reef, coral and fish life.

The ATSB said a crash investigation was being launched. “A team of transport safety investigators will soon travel to the accident location to commence the evidence collection phase of the investigation,” it said. “There, investigators will interview witnesses, examine any available recorded data, review operational records and technical documentation amongst other activities.”

An expected timeframe on the investigation won’t be known until the evidence collection phase is completed. </s> Wellington: Seven people have been found on board one of the dinghies from a Kiribati ferry that's been missing in the Pacific for more than a week.

A New Zealand Air Force Orion aircraft located the four to five-metre dinghy on Sunday, and crews have dropped aid to those on board.

The Rescue Co-ordination Centre of New Zealand says a fishing vessel has been diverted to rescue the people.

"The group seem very relieved to have been found when the New Zealand Air Force Orion dropped supplies, including water and a radio, to them about 10am today," says RCCNZ Senior Search and Rescue Officer John Ashby.

Mr Ashby says the dinghy is understood to be one of two carried on the missing ferry, MV Butiraoi, and was located within the search area.

The Orion is continuing the search, with three hours of flight time remaining in the day.

A radar search of 145,000 square kilometres was carried out on Saturday.

Local authorities were alerted to the missing 17-metre wooden catamaran after it failed to arrive in Betio on January 20, having left Nonouti Island two days prior.

The RCCNZ received a request for aerial assistance on Friday. </s> WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Seven people were killed and another person was missing in a boating accident near Auckland, New Zealand, on Saturday, police said.

Inspector Duncan Hall said the chartered fishing boat Francie was carrying 11 people when it got into trouble in Kaipara Harbour near Auckland. He said rescuers managed to pull three survivors from the water, who were taken to a local hospital.

He said rescuers also recovered five bodies from the water soon after the accident. Another two bodies washed ashore at nearby beaches and were found early Sunday.

Hall said in a statement that the fishing boat was reported as overdue to emergency services at 3:30 p.m. Police were still trying to establish what happened to the boat and how its occupants ended up in the water. Hall said conditions on Saturday were poor, with large sea swells.

An air search for the missing person was suspended overnight and resumed on Sunday in the harbor, which is about 75 kilometers (47 miles) northwest of Auckland.

Eyewitnesses told Television New Zealand that rescuers in helicopters plucked the survivors from the water and placed them on a beach, where locals kept them warm until ambulances arrived.

The TV station reported that the accident happened at the entrance to the harbor, an area which is notorious for producing treacherous conditions for boats.

The Facebook page for Francie Charters says its boat Francie is licensed to carry up to 20 people with two crew members. It shows customers using lines to catch snapper and other fish, and encountering dolphins. </s> WELLINGTON: Up to eight people are feared dead after a chartered fishing boat sank in New Zealand on Saturday, police said.

Five bodies have been recovered and three people remain missing seven hours after the vessel overturned near Kaipara Harbour, north of Auckland.

The police initially said six people had been pulled from the water but later confirmed only three survivors had been found.

“The bodies of five people have been recovered from Kaipara Harbour,” the police said in a statement.

“Three other people have been rescued and are in hospital. A search for a further three people will continue.”

Police have been told that 11 people were on the boat, known as The Francie, which went down when returning to the harbor in the afternoon.

The Francie, listed as a 12-meter (40-foot) long boat that can carry a maximum of 22 people, capsized at the entrance to Kaipara Harbor.

Police inspector Duncan Hall told reporters a shoreline search would continue during the night for the missing three people but an aerial search had been called off.

“Conditions are not suitable for an air search to continue tonight due to a significant sea swell. Visibility is poor, which would put rescue aircraft and their crews at risk,” he said.

A former skipper of The Francie, who now operates another charter boat, told the New Zealand Herald that conditions were “too rough” to have taken the vessel out of the harbor.

“I stayed home, I’m not stupid,” the Herald quoted Rod Bridge as saying.

“The wind was coming up and the swell was coming up. You wouldn’t go out over the bar.” AFP </s> Migrants board a container ship of Danish shipping company Maersk Line on Saturday after they were rescued from a shipwrecked vessel at sea. Photo: Danilo CAMPAILLA / Mission Lifeline e. V. / AFP

The world's leading container shipping company Danish Maersk Line on Saturday said one of its vessels rescued 113 migrants off the coast of southern Italy.

The container ship called Alexander Maersk changed its course after picking up a stress signal on early Friday, Mikkel Elbek Linnet, a spokesman at Maersk Line, told AFP. He could neither specify where exactly the migrants were rescued nor when the stress signal was picked up.

The vessel is currently situated off the coast of the Sicilian town of Pozzallo and awaiting instructions from the Italian Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC Rome).

The Maersk container's move to rescue the migrants is part of "an ancient code of conduct," according to Linnet.

"It's not the first time...they have picked up migrants two or three times before in recent years," he told AFP.

Italy's new populist government has threatened to seize several other ships carrying migrants, sparking a row with the EU.

Infrastructure minister Danilo Toninelli on Thursday said that two rescue migrant ships -- Lifeline, run by the German NGO Mission Lifeline, and Seefuchs, run by the German NGO Sea-Eye, -- would be seized and directed to Italian ports for investigation "into their legal status".
Authorities in France and French Polynesia meet to discuss rescue plans for MV Thorco Lineage, a freighter hauling zinc that is grounded with eighteen people on board on a coral reef near Raroia, Tuamotus.