7 die on US destroyer struck by cargo ship
A US Navy recruit was among seven sailors who died when their warship was hit by a huge cargo ship, it was revealed yesterday.
Dakota Rigsby, a volunteer firefighter in the US, is the first victim to be named in the disaster.
The USS Fitzgerald was struck 56 miles south-west of Yokosuka, Japan, early on Saturday while the crew were in their sleeping compartments.
Rigsby and six other sailors were found dead in their cabins following the collision with the 29,000-ton container ship ACX Crystal.
Two sleeping compartments, the captain’s cabin and an engine room were flooded when the container ship hit the navy vessel.
The US Navy’s Seventh Fleet commander Vice Admiral Joseph Aucoin said the £1.1billion ship would have sunk if it were not for the crew’s quick efforts to save it.
U-turn
It was eventually towed back to its base in Yokosuka by US tug boats after a 16-hour operation.
Yesterday Vice Admiral Aucoin said that the loss “is something we all feel” and it could be up to a year until the ship sails again.
The US and Japan have launched investigations into how a ship as large as the ACX Crystal could crash into the USS Fitzgerald in clear conditions.
Marine traffic records have revealed the Filipino cargo boat made a sudden U-turn 25 minutes before the collision but it is not clear why.
Three of the 285 US crew members, including the ship’s commanding officer Bryce Benson, were injured. He was in a stable condition in the US Naval Hospital in Yokosuka. The other two escaped with cuts and bruises.