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Rena captain and navigation officer jailed for seven months

Rena captain and navigation officer jailed for seven months
Tauranga: New Zealand's Tauranga district court has sentenced the captain and navigation officer of containership Rena to seven months in prison for causing the country's worst maritime environmental disaster.

Captain Mauro Balomaga and navigation officer Leonil Relon, both Filipinos, were sentenced on Friday. They pleaded guilty to wilfully attempting to pervert the course of justice by altering the ship's documents after it went aground.

The containership hit Astrolabe Reef on 5 October 2011 and spilled about 360 tonnes of heavy fuel oil into the sea. The oil was washed up on local beaches and killed wildlife.

The two men also pleaded guilty to charges under the Maritime Transport Act for operating a vessel in a manner causing unnecessary danger of risk.

They also admitted another charge under the Resource Management Act relating to discharging harmful substances from a ship.