Break up fears for ship aground off New Zealand

There are fears that a large container ship which is stuck on a reef off the coast of New Zealand could break up and leak more oil.

The Rena struck the Astrolabe Reef about 12 nautical miles from Tauranga Harbour on Wednesday.

If the ship breaks up, it could release 1,700 tonnes of heavy fuel oil into the Bay of Plenty, one of New Zealand's top tourist destinations.

Maritime New Zealand Incident Controller Rob Service spoke about the oil that has already leaked out.