Missing sailors’ bodies found in flooded berths after collision

YOKOSUKA: The bodies of missing sailors were found in flooded compartments of the USS Fitzgerald, which came close to sinking after a collision with a container ship off Japan tore a gash under the warship’s waterline, the US Navy’s Seventh Fleet commander said yesterday.

The search at sea had been called off, said Vice-Admiral Joseph Aucoin.

He said the Fitzgerald could have foundered but for the crew’s desperate efforts to save it.

“The damage was significant. There was a big gash under the water,” Aucoin said.

He added that a significant portion of the crew had been sleeping when the destroyer collided with the Philippine-flagged container ship, destroying the commander’s cabin.

The Fitzgerald was salvageable, but repairs would probably take months.

“Hopefully less than a year. You will see the USS Fitzgerald back,” Aucoin said.

He was asked if damage on the starboard side indicated the US ship could have been at fault, but declined to speculate on the cause of the collision. Maritime rules suggest vessels are supposed to give way to ships on their starboard.

Japanese media said all seven of the sailors who had been reported missing were found dead.

The US Seventh Fleet said yesterday: “Divers were able to access the space and found a number of bodies.” They were transferred to a US naval hospital for identification, it said.

The Fitzgerald collided with the merchant vessel, more than three times its size, about 56 nautical miles south-west of Yokosuka early on Saturday. – Reuters