45 Seabirds killed by New Zealand oil spill

Forty-five seabirds covered with oil leaking from a ship that ran aground on a New Zealand reef have been found dead since it began breaking up in a storm at the weekend, officials said Thursday. Ten little blue penguins have been taken to a wildlife center to be cleaned, the Maritime New Zealand agency said. More than 2,000 seabirds died when the ship spilled about 360 tons of oil after running aground as it headed to the North Island port of Tauranga on October 5. Oil spill response teams worked Thursday at two islands and beaches at Mount Maunganui, 20 kilometers from Tauranga. An aerial observation flight confirmed a dark metallic sheen of oil about 600 meters by 200 meters within a larger lighter sheen stretching about 10 kilometers from the wreck, the agency said. It said these patches of oil appeared to be breaking down naturally in a sea swell producing waves of up to 3 meters around the ship, which is in two pieces with most of the stern below the water.