2 Blasts Sink Greenpeace Boat, Kill Photographer

At least two on-board explosions sank a Greenpeace trawler in New Zealand and a Greenpeace photographer was killed, an official of the environmentalist group said today.

The explosions rocked the 160-foot vessel as it was anchored at its pier in Auckland.

The body of Fernando Pereira, 30, a Portuguese native who lived in Amsterdam, was recovered shortly after the Rainbow Warrior sank at about midnight, said Peter Dykstra of Greenpeace’s Washington office. Ten to 12 others on board the vessel were unhurt, Dykstra said.

He added that divers thought they might have spotted another body in the debris but that they “had a very difficult time finding their way around” and were unable to reach it or determine exactly what they had seen.

Peter Wilcox, American captain of the vessel, said: “We don’t know what happened. There were some loud bangs, the boat shook and we sank within four minutes. I had only time to walk off.”

Inspector Lindsay Todd of the Auckland police said authorities are investigating the explosions.

The Rainbow Warrior, used by Greenpeace since 1977 to monitor and protest offshore oil operations, seal hunts and other activities the group considers harmful to the environment, was preparing to sail to Mururoa Atoll, the French nuclear weapons test site in the Pacific, Dykstra said.