The pair – who are reportedly Dutch – took a small number of bottles from one
of the containers on board the wrecked ship which is stuck on Astrolabe reef off
Tauranga.

Svitzer Salvage spokesman Matthew Watson told NZ Newswire they were
immediately dismissed following an investigation by the company.

“It seems they’ve decided to help themselves to some wine,” he said.

“Everything on the Rena belongs to someone, it is private property and the
notion or the idea that the contractor can help themselves to it is not on.”

He says the wine will either be replaced or returned to its owner.

Mr Watson did not know whether the wine belonged to New Zealand winemakers
Astrolabe which had 4000 cases of wine on the Rena.

It will be a big loss for the divers who earn up to $2300 a day, according to
the New Zealand Herald.

Mr Watson says the police have not been contacted and charges are
unlikely.

Rena ran aground on the Astrolabe reef on October 5, spilling hundreds of
tonnes of oil, containers and other debris into the sea and causing pollution on
nearby beaches.

Last week the stern section of the ship, which is broken in
two, sank beneath the waves in heavy seas causing debris to wash up on beaches
along the Coromandel coast.

Source: New Zealand Herald