Fil-Am among seven sailors killed in Japan ship collision
TOKYO (Reuters) – The US Navy confirmed on Monday that all seven missing sailors on the USS Fitzgerald, including Fire Controlman 2nd Class Carlos Victor Ganzon Sibayan, a 23year-old Filipino-American from Chula Vista, California, were found dead in flooded berthing compartments after the destroyer’s collision with a container ship off Japan over the weekend.
The USS Fitzgerald and a Philippine-flagged container ship collided south of Tokyo Bay early on Saturday. The cause of the collision in clear weather is not known.
A significant portion of the crew was asleep when the collision occurred, tearing a gash under the warship’s waterline and flooding two crew compartments, the radio room and the auxiliary machine room.
A large dent was clearly
visible in its right mid-section as the destroyer limped back to Yokosuka naval base south of Tokyo, home of the Seventh fleet, on Saturday evening.
Aside from Sibayan, the US Navy on Monday identified the dead sailors as: Dakota Kyle Rigsby, 19, from Palmyra, Virginia; Shingo Alexander Douglass, 25, from San Diego, California; Ngoc T Truong Huynh, 25, from Oakville, Connecticut; Noe Hernandez, 26, from Weslaco, Texas; Xavier Alec Martin, 24, from Halethorpe, Maryland; and Gary Leo Rehm Jr., 37, from Elyria, Ohio.
Sibayan is best remembered as an extremely happy.
“There was never a time that Carlos wasn’t making people laugh,” Chase Cornils, a fellow cadet in Chaparral High School’s Naval Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps, told the San Diego Union-Tribune. “He always had a cheerful attitude and a smile on his face. When I think of Carlos, I can only remember an extremely happy guy who was willing to help all of his friends.”
Sibayan, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune report, joined the Navy on April 3, 2013. He later reported to USS Fitzgerald on July 31, 2014, after entry level training at Great Lakes and Virginia.
An Enlisted Surface Warfare Specialist, he had been promoted on Jan. 16, 2016, the San Diego Union-Tribune also reported.
Two of three injured crew members who were evacuated from the ship by helicopter, including the ship’s commanding officer, Commander Bryce Benson, were released from the US Naval Hospital in Yokosuka, the US Navy’s Seventh Fleet said on its Facebook page on Monday. The last sailor remained in hospital and no details were given about his condition.
Multiple US and Japanese investigations are under way on how a ship as large as the container could collide with the smaller warship in clear weather.
Shipping data in Thomson Reuters Eikon shows that the ACX Crystal, chartered by Japan’s Nippon Yusen KK, made a complete U-turn between 12:58 a.m. and 2:46 a.m. on June 17. (15:58 GMT and 17:46 GMT).
Vice Admiral Joseph P. Aucoin, the Seventh Fleet commander, was asked on Sunday if damage on the starboard side indicated the US ship could have been at fault, but he declined to speculate on the cause of the collision. Maritime rules suggest vessels are supposed to give way to ships on their starboard.
Japanese authorities were looking into the possibility of “endangerment of traffic caused by professional negligence,” Japanese media reported, but it was not clear whether that might apply to either or both of the vessels.
Japanese chief cabinet secretary Yoshihide Suga said the government was investigating with the cooperation of the US side and every effort would be made to maintain regional deterrence in the face of North Korea, which has recently conducted a series of missile tests.
“It is extremely important to maintain US deterrence in the light of an increasingly severe regional security situation,” he told a news conference.
“We will maintain close contact with international society, including the United States and South Korea, to maintain vigilance and protect the safety of our people.”
The incident has sparked as many as three investigations by the US Navy and US Coastguard, and two by Japanese authorities.
Complicating the inquiries could be issues of which side has jurisdiction and access to data such as radar records that the United States could deem classified.
Although the collision occurred in Japanese waters, under a Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) that defines the scope of the US military’s authority in Japan, the US Navy could claim it has the authority to lead the investigations.
The three US investigations include a JAGMAN command investigation often used to look into the cause of major incidents, which can be used as a basis to file lawsuits against the Navy.
“We will coordinate with Japanese authorities on investigations and will address specific requests for access in accordance with normal procedures,” a Navy spokesman said.