US Navy probes destroyer crash that killed seven in Japan

TOKYO: A probe into the crash between a US navy destroyer and a Philippineflagged cargo ship was under way Monday, as the names of seven American sailors who died were made public.

Investigators were looking at how the USS Fitzgerald came to be holed in the smash in a busy shipping lane near its home port.

The container ship, the 222-meter Philippine-flagged ACX Crystal, made a 180 degree turn shortly before the accident, according to data from the Marine Traffic website. It was not immediately clear what prompted the sharp turn.

The US Navy and Japan’s coast guard are conducting separate inquiries, but will likely be co-operating, a spokesman for Japan’s transport safety board said.

Japanese coast guard investigators will be interviewing the Filipino crew of the Japanese-owned container ship, although the US has primary jurisdiction in investigating accidents involving military.

Citing local investigators, Japan’s topselling Yomiuri newspaper said Monday that the damage on both ships suggests they were traveling in the same direction when the crash occurred, 56 nautical miles southwest of Yokosuka.

The impact tore a huge gash in the Fitzgerald, sending gallons of water flooding into the berths where the crew were sleeping.

The bodies of the sailors, who were aged between 19 and 37, were recovered by navy divers after their 154-meter vessel limped into port.

The huge commercial vessel came into Yokosuka with large scrapes on its bow, but none of its 20 crew were injured.

Japan’s coast guard is also investigating why it took nearly an hour before the Philippine ship reported the collision, a coast guard spokesman said.

“We had first announced that the collision occurred at 2:20 am, based on the initial report from the Philippine ship, but we have now changed it to 1:30 am after directly hearing from the crew,” the spokesman said.

“We are checking what happened during the time and why the report was delayed,” he added.

There have been around 30 boat crashes over the past decade in the area, including a 2013 incident when six Japanese crew died after their cargo ship crashed with another vessel in the early morning hours, a coast guard spokesman said.

“That’s considered a lot of accidents,” he said, adding that many ships pass through the channel in the middle of the night to be on time for morning cargo pick-ups.

“There are all kinds of ships navigating those waters.”

Under maritime law, the container ship had an obligation to avoid a collision if it was trying to overtake the destroyer from behind.

But if the container vessel was approaching from the US ship’s right side, the destroyer had the obligation to give way, another Japanese coast guard spokesman said.