Maritime crisis off Northland over

The maritime crisis involving hazardous material dumped off the Northland coast is over.

A navy ship has recovered 23 of the estimated 40 packages of potentially lethal chemical used to fumigate ships' holds and authorities believe the risk from the rest is very low. They may have sunk.

The crisis team set up in Whangarei during the weekend to co-ordinate the search and recovery of the packages, has been disbanded and the navy's dive tender, HMNZS Manawanui, has been stood down.

The packages contained magnesium phosphide and may have been floating in the water north east of the Poor Knights Islands, off the coast of Northland, for several days, possibly longer than a week.

When mixed with water the chemical produces a toxic gas which kills pests, bugs and animals which may be in ships' holds, particularly log carriers.

However, authorities believe seawater may have penetrated the wax wrapping on the packages and activated the chemicals at sea. The 23 packages recovered by the navy in the last two days were still giving off traces of gas but at very low levels.

Maritime Safety Authority (MSA) spokesman, Matt Johnson, said authorities were confident there was now little or no danger from the packages but warned that in the unlikely event a package washed ashore, people should treat it with extreme caution.

He said there was also little likelihood the chemicals posed an environmental threat to the sea and sea life because they had been diluted by seawater.

The MSA said it was continuing the search for the ship which dumped or lost the packages.

Even if they had been lost overboard accidentally, an offence had been committed by not reporting the loss, the MSA said. A maximum fine of $200,000 could be imposed.

The crisis team was due to hold a post-incident briefing today to evaluate the response to an incident believe to be the first of its type in New Zealand.

The recovered packages were likely to be buried.

- NZPA