Sailors likely asleep at time of crash

– The bodies of a number of sailors who were missing after the US Navy destroyer USS Fitzgerald collided with a container vessel, were found in flooded compartments, the US Seventh Fleet said yesterday.

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

“Divers were able to access the space and found a number of bodies,” the Seventh Fleet said.

The sailors were being transferred to a US naval hospital, where they would be identified. “The families are being notified and being provided the support they need during this difficult time.”

The Fitzgerald, an Aegis-guided missile destroyer, collided with a Philippine-flagged merchant vessel more than three times its size about 56 nautical miles southwest of Yokosuka early on Saturday.

Three people were medically evacuated to the US Naval Hospital in Yokosuka after the collision, including the ship’s commanding officer, Commander Bryce Benson, who was in a stable condition.

The other two were being treated for lacerations and bruises.

The USS Fitzgerald sailed into port on Saturday evening, listing around 5°, a US Navy spokesperson in Yokosuka said. The flooding was in two berthing compartments, the radio room and auxiliary machine room.

The bodies were found in the berthing compartments, suggesting they could have been asleep at time of collision. There were 285 crew on board.