A police investigation into the grounding of the Nafanua II vessel patrol boat in Samoa has led to the suspension of an officer.
Superintendent Sefo Faafoi Hunt, who was the vessel's commanding officer, has been suspended while a police probe and a commission of inquiry into the running aground of the patrol boat on a reef near Salelologa wharf on Savaii island continues.
The vessel, which was only commissioned in 2019, ran aground nearly four weeks ago after transporting police officers from Apia to Savai'i to help their colleagues there during a Human Rights Protection party protest.
The HRPP plan to travel around Savai'i did not succeed after several villages in Savai'i put up road blocks to show resistance against the political party's attack towards the judiciary.
A crew from Australia who will carry out the salvage operation is due to arrive in two weeks time.
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