US navy sailors missing after crash
Search continues for seven after their destroyer collided with large Japanese container ship south-west of Tokyo
YOKOSUKA, JAPAN // The US and Japan were yesterday searching for seven missing American sailors whose destroyer collided with a container ship.
Planes, boats and helicopters scoured the seas off Japan’s Pacific coast for crew members who disappeared in the predawn accident, which left the USS Fitzgerald’s commander injured and crushed the destroyer’s side. The collision between the 154- metre guided- missile destroyer and 222- metre Philippine-flagged container ship ACX Crystal happened about 2.30am on Friday off the Izu peninsula, south-west of Tokyo. The warship was pulled by a tugboat back to base in Yokosuka, where the navy said divers were trying to reach parts that were damaged in the accident.
It was not clear where the missing sailors were when the vessels collided and the search was expected to continue overnight.
“This has been a difficult day,” said Vice Admiral Joseph Aucoin, commander of the US 7th Fleet. “Now that the ship is in Yokosuka, I ask that you help the families by maintaining their privacy as we continue the search for our shipmates.” US president Donald Trump tweeted: “Thoughts and prayers with the sailors of USS Fitzgerald and their families. Thank you to our Japanese allies for their assistance.” The ACX Crystal had large scrapes on its bow but none of its 20 crew was injured, Japan’s coastguard said.
The seven missing US sailors have not been identified.
“My daughter is on the Fitzgerald,” a parent wrote on the 7th Fleet’s Facebook page. “So worried. Just need to hear she is OK. Thinking of all of our sailors and their families.” Other crew members were injured and had to be winched up to helicopters and flown to hospital, including commanding officer Bryce Benson. The accident happened 104 kilometres south-west of Yokosuka, in a busy shipping channel that is a gateway to major container ports in Tokyo and nearby Yokohama.
“The volume of ships is heavy in this area and there have been accidents before,” coastguard official Yutaka Saito said.
TV reports said the massive container ship made a sharp turn at around the time of the collision with the US warship, but its captain suggested otherwise.
‘ I ask that you help the families by maintaining their privacy as we continue the search for our shipmates Vice Admiral Joseph Aucoin, Commander of the US 7th Fleet
He said his ship was “sailing in the same direction as the US destroyer was and then collided”.
Japan’s coastguard, which is investigating the incident, said it had sent six vessels, several aircraft and a team of specially trained rescue personnel to the scene. They were later joined by Japan’s defence forces.
“We’re going all out in the search to find these missing peo- ple but we still haven’t found any clues as to where they might be,” a coastguard spokesman said. The US destroyer had heavy damage to its right side at the bridge. It was commissioned in 1995 and sent to the Iraq war in 2003.
The navy said the crash caused “significant damage” and flooding in two berthing spaces, a machinery room and the radio room. “It remains uncertain as to how long it will take to gain access to the spaces in order to methodically continue the search for the missing,” the navy said after the ship docked yesterday evening.
The ACX Crystal – which sailed to a Tokyo port yesterday – is a commercial container ship with a Filipino crew, according to its Japanese owner, NYK Line.
It left the central Japanese city of Nagoya on Friday and had been due to arrive in the capital yesterday.
“We can’t comment on the accident as it’s being handled by the Japanese coastguard,” a company spokesman said. “We will fully cooperate with authorities investigating the case.”