Sea search for U.S. sailors ends
One body was recovered and identified; nine more are missing, but Navy officials say they too are now identified.
SINGAPORE — The U.S. Navy on Thursday called off the search at sea for sailors missing after a collision between a destroyer and an oil tanker, and it confirmed the identity of one body.
The 7th Fleet said divers will continue to search flooded compartments inside the USS John S. McCain, where some remains have been found. The Navy has not provided specifics.
Ten sailors went missing and five others were injured in the accident, which occurred Monday as the McCain was heading to Singapore for a routine port call.
The fleet said it had identified the remains of Electronics Technician 3rd Class Kenneth Aaron Smith, 22, from New Jersey.
The search, which also involved aircraft and ships from Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Australia, was suspended after 80 hours of scouring a 2,100square mile area east of Singapore, the Navy said.
Earlier, it said a body found at sea by Malaysian forces was not one of the missing sailors. The remains were medically examined and will be returned to Malaysian authorities, it said.
The commander of the 7th Fleet was relieved of duty Wednesday following the McCain collision and other accidents this year that raised questions about its operations in the Pacific. Seven sailors died in June when the destroyer USS Fitzgerald collided with a container ship off Japan. Two lesser-known incidents occurred earlier in the year.
The firing of Vice Adm. Joseph Aucoin marked a rare dismissal of a highranking officer for operational reasons. Aucoin was due to retire in a few weeks, and the officer named to succeed him, Vice Adm. Phillip Sawyer, assumed command immediately.
The 7th Fleet identified the nine sailors who are still missing as Electronics Technician 1st Class Charles Nathan Findley, 31, from Missouri; Interior Communications Electrician 1st Class Abraham Lopez, 39, from Texas; Electronics Technician 2nd Class Kevin Sayer Bushell, 26, from Maryland; Electronics Technician 2nd Class Jacob Daniel Drake, 21, from Ohio; Information Systems Technician 2nd Class Timothy Thomas Eckels Jr., 23, from Maryland; Information Systems Technician 2nd Class Corey George Ingram, 28, from New York; Electronics Technician 3rd Class Dustin Louis Doyon, 26, from Connecticut; Electronics Technician 3rd Class John Henry Hoagland III, 20, from Texas; and Interior Communications Electrician 3rd Class Logan Stephen Palmer, 23, from Illinois.