Sailors missing in destroyer collision

AT least 10 sailors are missing after a US navy guided-missile destroyer collided with a tanker in waters east of Singapore and the Strait of Malacca early today.

Five other sailors were hurt and the USS John S McCain sustained damage on its port side aft following the collision with the Alnic MC that happened at 5.24am local time, the navy’s 7th Fleet said.

It was not immediately clear if the oil and chemical tanker sustained damage or casualties in the collision.

The navy said Osprey aircraft and Seahawk helicopters from the USS America were assisting, and tugboats and Singaporean naval and coastguard vessels were in the area to help.

Malaysia’s navy chief Ahmad Kamarulzaman Ahmad Badaruddin tweeted that two ships, as well as aircraft from its navy and air force, have been deployed to help look for the missing US sailors.

The Strait of Malacca is a narrow body of water between Malaysia to the northeast and Indonesia to the south-west, with the citystate of Singapore at the tip of the Malay Peninsula.

The collision is the second involving a ship from the 7th Fleet in the Pacific in two months.

Seven sailors died in June when the USS Fitzgerald and a container ship hit each other in waters off Japan.

The Fitzgerald’s captain was relieved of command and other sailors were being punished after the navy found poor seamanship and flaws in keeping watch contributed to the collision.

An investigation into how and why the Fitzgerald collided with the other ship was not finished but enough details were known to take those actions, the navy said.

The Japan-based 7th Fleet said the 154-metre long McCain had been heading to Singapore on a routine port visit after last week conducting a sensitive freedom of navigation operation by sailing near one of China’s man-made islands in the South China Sea when the collision occurred.

The ship is based at the 7th Fleet’s home port of Yokosuka. It was commissioned in 1994 and has a crew of 23 officers, 24 chief petty officers and 291 enlisted sailors, according the Navy’s website.

The Alnic MC is a 183-metre oil and chemical tanker.

President Donald Trump tweeted that his “thoughts and prayers” were with sailors aboard the USS John S McCain.

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USS John S McCain