The captain and navigation officer of the containership Rena, which grounded on a reef off New Zealand last year, were jailed today for causing the country’s worst environmental disaster.Captain Mauro Balomaga, 44, and navigation officer Leonil Relon, 37, both Filipino nationals, were jailed for seven months. Both admitted charges of operating the Liberian-flagged Rena in a dangerous manner, releasing toxic substances and attempting to pervert the course of justice by altering ship’s documents.The containership ran aground on the Astrolabe reef near the port of Tauranga on 5 October, spilling hundreds of tonnes of fuel oil, fouling beaches and killing thousands of seabirds in what was described as New Zealand’s worst maritime environmental disaster."This was an event unlike this country has ever seen," said Judge Robert Wolff. He said the sentence took into account that the pair had already been vilified, and that they would be held in a foreign jail.The court heard how the captain had ordered the navigation officer to take short cuts to ensure the ship reached Tauranga port on time.The crew had not complied with basic navigation practices, and there had been what the prosecution called "substantial deviations" from the approved course.Salvage teams are still removing containers from the vessel which carried 1,300 at the time of the disaster.Vessel owner Daina Shipping, a unit of Greece’s Costamare, has been charged with discharging harmful substances, which carries a maximum fine of NZ$600,000 (US$454,000), and an additional fine of NZ$10,000 for each day the offending continues.
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