Dead US sailors found in damaged destroyer

Probe to determine cause of collision

The bodies of US sailors missing after their destroyer collided with a container ship off Japan have been found in fl ooded sleeping berths, a day after the accident tore a huge gash in the warship’s side, the US Navy said Sunday.

Seven sailors were reported missing after Saturday’s predawn collision, triggering a major search operation off Japan’s Pacifi c coast, and US authorities tacitly acknowledged there were no survivors.

“The search and rescue is over,” US 7th Fleet commander Vice Admiral Joseph Aucoin told reporters, describing huge amount of water that gushed into the sleeping compartments after part of the ship’s right side was caved in.

The Navy said it had found “a number” of bodies inside the guided missile destroyer, but did not specify if all seven crew had been found dead in the search that took place after it limped back into harbor.

A final toll would not be released until the sailors’ families had been contacted, the navy said.

However, Aucoin said the destroyer sustained “a large gash” below the waterline, and nearby crew would have had little chance to escape the “tremendous” amount of water that poured through the breach.

“It was 2: 20 in the morning. A signifi cant part of the crew was sleeping,” he added, standing on the pier in front of the docked destroyer at its base in Yokosuka, southwest of Tokyo.

“There wasn’t a lot of time in spaces that were open to the sea.

“So, it was traumatic. As to how much warning they had – I don’t know.”

The damaged ship was salvageable but would likely take months to fix, Aucoin said.

The container ship, the 222- meter Philippine- fl agged ACX Crystal, came into port with large scrapes on its bow, but none of its 20 crew were injured, Japan’s coast guard said.

Aucoin declined to say what might be to blame for the accident, the cause of which is being investigated.

“We will update you once the investigation process is complete,” he said.

“I’m not going to speculate on what happened... Hopefully we’ll get those answers, but I don’t have them right now.”

The accident set off a major US- Japanese search and rescue operation Saturday.