Navy destroyer collides with merchant ship
Ten American sailors are missing after the incident, and five are injured.
SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA» Ten U.S. Navy sailors are missing and five have been injured after the USS John S. McCain guided missile destroyer and an oil tanker three times its size collided near Singapore early Monday.
American and Singaporean ships and helicopters are involved in a search-and-rescue mission after the pre-dawn collision at the entrance to one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes.
This is the second time in two months that a Navy destroyer based at the 7th Fleet’s home port of Yokosuka, Japan, has been involved in a collision at sea. Seven sailors were killed when the USS Fitzgerald collided with a container ship south of Japan in June.
The McCain, an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer equipped with Aegis missiles, had been on its way to a routine port visit in Singapore after patrolling in the South China Sea. Shipping data showed that the Liberian-flagged merchant vessel Alnic MC was also on its way to Singapore when the vessels collided east of the Strait of Malacca at 5:24 a.m. local time, while it was still dark.
The 550-mile-wide strait runs between the Malaysian peninsula and the Indonesian island of Sumatra, connecting the Pacific and Indian oceans. It is one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes, but is also well traversed and well governed, analysts say.
The Alnic is more than three times the size of the McCain, with a gross tonnage of 30,000 tons.
Initial reports indicated that the destroyer sustained damage to its port side at the rear, but is currently sailing under its own power and heading to port in Singapore.
The Navy’s 7th Fleet said that Navy Seahawk helicopters and Ospreys had been mobilized for the search-and-rescue effort, joining tugboats from Singapore, a Singapore navy ship and helicopters, and a Singapore police coast guard vessel.
“Our first priority is determining the safety of the ship and crew,” Adm. John Richardson, chief of naval operations, wrote via Twitter. “As more information is learned, we will share it.”
The 7th Fleet set up an emergency assistance center in Yokosuka for family members of the McCain crew.
President Donald Trump, returning to the White House on Sunday night, responded to reporters’ questions about the collision by saying: “That’s too bad.”
This collision comes just days after the Navy issued a damning report listing errors that led to a collision between the USS Fitzgerald — also a Yokosuka-based Arleigh Burke-class destroyer — and a much larger container ship just south of Japan in June.
The collision killed seven sailors, all of whom drowned in their berth compartments.
The USS McCain is named after the father and grandfather of Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. John S. McCain Sr. and John S. McCain Jr. served as admirals in the Navy during World War II.