NO TO ‘CLOSED DOOR’ FOREX RCI
SINGAPORE: Ten US sailors are missing and five injured after their guided-missile destroyer collided with an oil tanker at 5.24am yesterday, the second accident i nvolving an American warship in two months.
The USS John S. McCain arrived in Singapore yesterday afternoon with a large hole on its port (left) side towards the stern, as an air and sea search involving four countries was mounted for the missing crew.
The warship collided with Alnic MC 4.5 nautical miles off the Malaysian coast near Teluk Remunia in Johor, the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) said.
MMEA director-general Datuk Zulkifili Abu Bakar said assets from MMEA, the Malaysian Marine Department, Royal Malaysian Navy and marine police had been dispatched to the scene, while Singapore, the US and Indonesia have also mobilised assets to assist in the search and rescue operations.
He added that waves were about 0.5-1m high during the incident yesterday, t hat may make i t
“challenging” for the missing sailors who were thrown overboard.
A helicopter took four of the injured to a Singapore hospital with non-lifethreatening injuries while the fifth did not need further medical attention.
AFP reported the destroyer could still sail under its own power after the collision with the Liberian-flagged tanker.
The tanker was transporting oil and chemicals and weighed over 30,000 gross tonnes, according to industry website Marine Traffic.
It sustained some damage but no crew were injured, Singapore’s Maritime and Port Authority said. There were no reports of oil pollution and sea traffic in Singapore waters was unaffected.
The warship had been heading for a routine stop in Singapore after carrying out a sensitive “freedom of navigation operation” in the disputed South China Sea earlier this month that sparked a furious response from Beijing.
The vessel is named after US Senator John McCain’s father and grandfather, who were both admirals in the US navy.
In June, seven American sailors died when the destroyer USS Fitzgerald collided with a Philippineflagged cargo ship in a busy channel in Japan.