Salvors this weekend cleared meat and seafood that had been rotting aboard Rena since it ran aground in October.
The meat included 50 big bags of lamb and 76 bags of mussels that had remained sealed in unrefrigerated containers for almost five months. Salvage crews unloaded the bags of fetid meat by hand.
Svitzer salvage spokesman Matt Watson described the conditions aboard the ship as "putrid'', but said the crews were trained to deal with it.
"It's a pretty putrid situation to find yourself in. It's certainly not the average person's cup of tea. But it's their job. They've got a job to do and they're doing it. It's no worse than a lot of the other stuff,'' he said.
To combat the rancid conditions, salvors donned boiler suits, gloves, boots and gas masks to ensure they weren't in contact with the meat.
"I had a chat with one of them. It's not really better or worse than a lot of the other stuff they've had to do. Crawling around in oil-filled corridors wasn't pleasant either in pitch darkness. There's no point complaining about it, they're just doing it,'' he said.
In addition to the bags of meat and seafood, one refrigeration container was removed in two sections onto a barge as well as four 20-foot containers.
The number of containers recovered from Rena is now 561. Seventy-one containers have been recovered from the sea or shore.
- Sam Boyer of the Bay of Plenty Times
