HMNZS Manawanui, a multi-role offshore support vessel commissioned in the Royal New Zealand Navy, ran aground while surveying a reef off the island of Upolu in Samoa on Saturday night local time. The ship subsequently caught fire before capsizing and sinking.

All 75 people on board were evacuated onto lifeboats and rescued early on Sunday, New Zealand’s Defence Force said in a statement. Officials said the cause of the grounding was unknown and will be investigated.

The reef being mapped had not been surveyed since 1987. The vessel is the first New Zealand naval vessel to be unintentionally sunk since the Second World War and the first to be lost in peacetime.

According to the BBC, the casualty occurred during a bout of rough and windy weather.

Military officials said rescuers “battled” currents and winds that pushed life rafts and sea boats towards the reefs, and swells made rescue efforts “challenging”.

The vessel’s crew and passengers – including seven scientists and four foreign military personnel – are being accommodated in Samoa before being flown back to New Zealand.

New Zealand Defence Minister Judith Collins said her top priority, given all crew were safely transported from the sinking vessel early on Sunday, was “the environmental side”.

“It’s got a lot of oil on board. It’s got all sorts of things. It’s got lubricating oil, hydraulic oil, diesel … it’s got a lot of stuff in it,” she told Newstalk ZB.  “I don’t think we can leave it like that.”

The ship was originally a survey vessel for the oil and gas industry that entered service in 2003. She was purchased for the Royal New Zealand Navy and was commissioned into the fleet as HMNZS Manawanui on June 7, 2019.

How it unfolded: HMNZS Manawanui sinks off coast of Samoa

Thanks to Alaric Bond and Dick Kooyman for contributing to this post.