New Zealand May Replace Sabotaged Greenpeace Vessel
Prime Minister David Lange today called the bombing of the Greenpeace environmental flagship “a major criminal act” and said his government may replace the vessel with a navy ship.
Police said twin blasts, which killed a crewman and tore a hole in the hull of the 160-foot Rainbow Warrior in Auckland Harbor late Wednesday, were acts of sabotage or terrorism. The ship was in the area to lead a waterborne protest against nuclear testing in the Pacific.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.
Lange said the sinking has “political or terrorist overtones,” and he raised the possibility that his government may replace the vessel with a navy ship.
The Rainbow Warrior was to have led a seven-vessel protest fleet to French Polynesia in August to protest French nuclear weapon tests at Mururoa Atoll.
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