Search for missing sailors ends; one body 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 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 2,100-square 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 commander of the 7th Fleet was relieved of duty on 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 lesserknown incidents occurred earlier in the year.

The firing of Vice Adm. Joseph Aucoin, a three-star admiral, was a rare dismissal of a high-ranking officer for operational reasons.