New Zealand navy ship Manawanui sinks off Samoa. All crew safe after specialist dive and hydrographic vessel ran aground near the southern coast of Upolu as it was conducting a reef survey

A Royal New Zealand Navy vessel has run aground and sunk off Samoa – the first time the navy has lost a ship since the Second World War, the New Zealand Defence Force said in a statement on Sunday.

New Zealand authorities are investigating the incident involving the Royal Navy ship Manawanui, which ran aground and sank. The survey vessel was captained by a woman, Yvonne Gray.

Manawanui, the navy’s specialist dive and hydrographic vessel, ran aground near the southern coast of Upolu on Saturday night as it was conducting a reef survey, Commodore Shane Arndell, the maritime component commander of the New Zealand Defence Force, said in a statement. All 75 crew and passengers were safe.

Late on Sunday Samoa’s acting prime minister said an oil spill was highly probable as a result of the sinking.

Officials in Samoa were conducting an environmental impact assessment in the area where the ship sank, Tuala Tevaga Iosefo Ponifasio said in a statement.

Several vessels responded and assisted in rescuing the crew and passengers who had left the ship in lifeboats, Arndell said.

A Royal New Zealand Air Force P-8A Poseidon was also deployed to assist in the rescue. The cause of the grounding was unknown and would need further investigation, the New Zealand Defence Force said.

Video and photos published on local media showed the Manawanui, which cost the New Zealand government NZ$103m in 2018, listing heavily and with plumes of thick grey smoke rising after it ran aground.

The vessel later capsized and was below the surface by 9am local time, the New Zealand Defence Force said.

The agency said it was ‘working with authorities to understand the implications and minimise the environmental impacts.’

The chief of navy, Rear Adm Garin Golding, told a press conference in Auckland that a plane would leave for Samoa on Sunday to bring the rescued crew and passengers back to New Zealand.

He said some of those rescued had suffered minor injuries, including from walking across a reef. The defence minister, Judith Collins, described the grounding as really challenging for everybody on board.

‘I know that what has happened is going to take quite a bit of time to process,’ Collins told the press conference.

‘I look forward to pinpointing the cause so that we can learn from it and avoid a repeat,’ she said, adding that an immediate focus was to salvage what is left of the vessel.

Rescue operations were coordinated by Samoan emergency services and Australian Defence Force personnel with the assistance of the New Zealand rescue centre, according to a statement from Samoa Police, Prison and Corrections Services posted on Facebook. It was the first sinking of a New Zealand vessel since World War II (1939-1945).

Manawanui is used to conduct a range of specialist diving, salvage and survey tasks around New Zealand and across the southwest Pacific. New Zealand’s navy is already working at reduced capacity with three of its nine ships idle due to personnel shortages.

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