U.S. destroyer, vessel collide off Japan

SEVEN CREW members were missing and at least three injured after a U.S. Navy destroyer collided early Saturday with a Philippine merchant ship off the coast of Japan.

The Navy said in a statement that Cmdr. Bryce Benson, the commanding officer of the Fitzgerald, was evacuated to the U.S. Naval Hospital in Yokosuka, home base of the 7th Fleet, in stable condition.

The U.S. 7th Fleet said on its Facebook page that it is working with the Japanese Coast Guard to conduct a medical evacuation for a sailor by helicopter, and that there are currently no reported deaths.

A second medical evacuation was also being arranged, officials said.

As of 9 a.m. local time, the crew aboard the Fitzgerald was trying to control the damage as the ship made its way back to land, sources told Navy Times.

Navy chief Adm. John Richardson said Navy, Japanese maritime defense vessels and the Japanese coast guard are working to stabilize the badly damaged ship.

A U.S. defense official said there is flooding in three compartments of the Fitzgerald.

The incident occurred around 2:30 a.m., 56 nautical miles southwest of Yokosuka, officials said.

The Fitzgerald suffered extensive damage above and beneath the waterline on its starboard side when it struck a Philippineflagged vessel named ACX Crystal.

The merchant ship is more than four times the size of the Fitzgerald. No damage or injuries to the container ship or its crew members have been reported.

Footage from Japanese broadcaster NHK on Saturday morning showed a person in a stretcher being taken up to a helicopter from the deck of the Fitzgerald.