When a Navy Bomb Killed a Greenpeace Photographer in Auckland Harbor

When a Navy Bomb Killed a Greenpeace Photographer in Auckland Harbor

Fear that a friendly state's agents would attack a protest ship in a peaceful port: at 23:23 on July 10, 1985, a bomb tore a car-sized hole in the Rainbow Warrior and, seven minutes later, a second explosion killed photographer Fernando Pereira - why did those seven minutes exist and who was ever held to account?

In this episode, we tell the sequence of events that night, the lead-up from protests at Mururoa Atoll, and the undercover operations in Auckland that made the attack possible, closing on the question of responsibility and consequences.

Person: Fernando Pereira Date: July 10, 1985 Location: Auckland Harbour, Marsden Wharf Event: Bombing of the Rainbow Warrior Country: France (intelligence service of a NATO ally implicated)

- First explosion at 23:23 created a hole in the hull described as the size of a car. - Second explosive detonated at 23:45, seven minutes after the first. - Fernando Pereira was 35 years old and the sole fatality; he drowned below deck after returning for his cameras. - The Rainbow Warrior sank approximately four minutes after the second blast. - Agent Christine Cabon, using the alias Frederique Bonlieu, infiltrated the Auckland Harbour office and passed ship schedules and crew movements to French intelligence.

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