Southern Phoenix still waiting to offload

The Aitutaki Ports Authority hopes to offload the remaining cargo from the Southern Phoenix today if sea conditions are favourable.

The Southern Phoenix has been sitting in Aitutaki since Monday with just 15 of the 30 containers for the island offloaded on Monday.

Several attempts have been made to unload the ship and if this cannot be done today, island leaders will have to discuss the hot topic of working on Sunday.

Aitutaki mayor Tai Herman said yesterday that urgent supplies are on the ship including fuel, food stock and building materials.

Herman also reported that the island was on full alert yesterday for the affects of cyclone Sarah but reports of the cyclone weakening brought relief to the island still recovering from cyclone Pat which struck on February 10.

Herman said that people were urged to make contingency plans on where they would shelter from the storm with many families pulling down their tents in preparation for bad weather.

“All the things we need are on that ship and we want to offload that as soon as possible,” said Herman.

- Matariki Wilson