Geenpeace activists in New Zealand have occupied a ship that was set to carry out test drills off the Alaskan coast.

The ship working for Anglo-Dutch energy giant Shell was due to sail on Sunday but has been delayed as a result of the environmental group's protest actions. Greenpeace says drilling in the arctic is too dangerous because, if an oil leak were to develop, it would be impossible to clean up and would cause an environmental catastrophe.

Greenpeace says Shell has already received 123,000 protest e-mails. The head of Shell in New Zealand, Rob Jager, says the company will go ahead with the test drilling. He said the project meets all environmental and security requirements.

(cl/ae)

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