The crew of the Manawanui were grateful to be rescued by locals on the weekend. Photo: Supplied / Samoa Fire and Emergency Services Authority
A local sailor who helped rescue the passengers and crew of the Manawanui when the navy vessel ran aground on a reef in Samoa says it was a rough night on the sea, but the rescued crew were in "decent spirits".
Seventy-five people were rescued from the $100 million specialist survey ship, which hit a reef at the southern end of Upolu on Saturday night and sank Sunday morning.
The Defence Force said it had found the black box of the sunken ship. Diving crews recovered the video data recorder - the equivalent of an aeroplane's flight recorder - on Tuesday.
The local - who wishes to remain anonymous - told RNZ he was in town when he got the call to come and possibly assist because he had a boat and knew the area.
"So we popped out and then everything kind of unfolded from there. I wasn't too sure exactly what was going on. We'd heard that a ship had run aground and there are possibly people in the water. And that's all we knew."
He said the ship was still lit up and upright by the time he arrived a the scene at about 9.30pm, but the crew had already abandoned the vessel and got into life rafts.
"At that point, they had detached from the ship and they were drifting to the west. So then we just had to track them down and figure out where they're at."
There was also a police boat and a fire and rescue boat at the scene, and it was dark and stormy out on the water.
The local said the crew were grateful to see them.
"They were happy to be rescued, of course. I think they were in a little bit of shock, but they seemed to be in decent spirits considering.
"We wanted to bring them in right away. But because of the the channel here, it can get a little bit treacherous at night. So it was all right for us going out, but coming back in with all the crew and it was a little bit overweighted, and it was just like it was quite windy and quite rough."
He said it was rough enough that it made it difficult to transfer the rescued people to larger vessels, and the call was made to stand by until the sun came up. They finally returned to shore at about 7am.
The HMNZS Manawanui, aground in Samoa. Photo: Supplied / Profile Boats
He did not see any flames during the rescue and only heard later that it had burned and "fallen into the depths".
The local returned to the site of the stranding on Tuesday but said there was not much to see.
"There's a little bit of flotsam on the reef. There's a container that obviously was swept off the ship and to the west behind the ship. But on the other fringing reef, where the actual ship is, all you can really see is a slick on the water from the diesel. You can smell the diesel. Aside from that, you wouldn't know it's there."
He said there were two containers in the lagoon on the other side.
The local said he could also see officials already conducting a survey of of the area and seeing the extent of the damage.
Navy Commodore Shane Arndell told Checkpoint on Tuesday the Manawanui was resting 30 metres underwater on a reef off the south coast of Upolu, and was not leaking.