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The sinking of the ''Rainbow Warrior'', codenamed Opération Satanique, was an operation by the "action" branch of the French foreign intelligence services, the ''Direction générale de la sécurité extérieure'' (DGSE), carried out on 10 July 1985. During the operation, two operatives sank the flagship of the Greenpeace fleet, the ''Rainbow Warrior'' in the port of Auckland, New Zealand on its way to a protest against a planned French nuclear test in Moruroa. Fernando Pereira, a photographer, drowned on the sinking ship. France initially denied responsibility, but two French agents were captured by New Zealand Police and charged with arson, conspiracy to commit arson, willful damage, and murder. As the truth came out, the scandal resulted in the resignation of the French Defence Minister Charles Hernu. The two agents pleaded guilty to manslaughter and were sentenced to ten years in prison. They spent just over two years confined to the French island of Hao before being freed by the French government.〔 ==Sinking of the ship== French agents posing as interested supporters or tourists toured the ship while it was open to public viewing. DGSE agent Christine Cabon, posing as environmentalist Frederique Bonlieu, volunteered to work in the Greenpeace office in Auckland. Cabon "was no ordinary lieutenant...a veteran of many dangerous intelligence missions in the Middle East, particularly in Lebanon."〔( The French Government and Greenpeace Agents back in court on Friday ) ''The Canberra Times'', 20 November 1985, at Trove〕 Cabon secretly monitored communications from the ''Rainbow Warrior'', collected maps, and investigated underwater equipment, in order to provide information crucial to the sinking. After the necessary information had been gathered two DGSE divers attached two limpet mines to the ''Rainbow Warrior'' berthed at Marsden Wharf and detonated them 10 minutes apart. The first bomb went off at 11:38 p.m., blasting a hole about the size of an average car. Agents intended the first mine to cripple the ship so that it would be evacuated safely by the time the second mine was detonated. However, the crew did not react to the first explosion as the agents had expected. While the ship was initially evacuated, some of the crew returned to the ship to investigate and film the damage. A Portuguese-Dutch photographer, Fernando Pereira, returned below decks to fetch his camera equipment. At 11:45 p.m., the second bomb went off. Pereira drowned in the rapid flooding that followed, and the other ten crew members either safely abandoned ship on the order of Captain Peter Willcox or were thrown into the water by the second explosion. The ''Rainbow Warrior'' sank four minutes later. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Sinking of the Rainbow Warrior」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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