Seventy three Chinese workers are expected to arrive in New Caledonia this week to continue with the salvage of a wrecked freighter, the Kea Trader.
The Kea Trader has been leaking oil Photo: Supplied
The government said a special return flight of Aircalin to Shanghai would bring the men to Noumea where they would be quarantined for two weeks.
They will then board a purpose-built Chinese barge to dispose of the wreck.
The new 184-metre freighter had been stuck on Durand Reef near Mare after crashing into it at full speed in 2017.
The immediate salvage operation involved pumping more than half a million litres of fuel out of the wreck which in a storm eventually broke in two.
An investigation into the grounding by the maritime safety authority of Malta, where the vessel was registered, said although the ship had top navigational equipment, its crew ignored warnings.