Maritime crisis off Northland over

The maritime crisis involving hazardous material dumped off the Northland coast is over. A navy ship has recovered 23 of the estimated 40 packages of potentially lethal chemical used to fumigate ships’ holds and authorities believe the risk from the rest is very low. They may have sunk. The crisis team set up in Whangarei during the weekend to co-ordinate the search and recovery of the packages, has been disbanded and the navy’s dive tender, HMNZS Manawanui, has been stood down.