US sailors missing after Navy destroyer collision off Japan

Source: CNN | June 17, 2017 | Brad Lendon and Yoko Wakatsuki

Tokyo (CNN) – Seven US sailors are missing and the commanding officer of a US destroyer is among the injured after the warship and a merchant ship collided off the coast of Japan, the US Navy said.

The smaller guided-missile destroyer USS Fitzgerald suffered severe damage to its starboard side.

“The collision affected Fitzgerald’s forward starboard side above and below the water line, causing significant damage and associated flooding to two berthing spaces, a machinery space, and the radio room,” according to a statement from US 7th Fleet.

The statement hinted that the missing sailors could be trapped in the damaged area of the destroyer.

“It remains uncertain how long it will take to gain access to the spaces once the ship is pier side … to methodically continue the search for the missing,” the statement said.

The two ships collided around 1:30 a.m. local time Saturday in the Pacific Ocean, about 56 nautical miles southwest from the port of Yokosuka and 12 miles off the Izu Peninsula, the Japanese coast guard said.

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The area where the wreck happened is known for heavy maritime traffic, the Japanese coast guard said. About 400 to 500 ships pass through the zone each day, the service said.

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In such a busy shipping lane, the ships may have been in a “restricted navigation” situation, meaning they would have had o observe strict rules for movement and positioning in relation to other vessels in their vicinity, said Carl Schuster, former director of operations at the US Pacific Command’s Joint Intelligence Center and a Hawaii Pacific University professor.

Those rules leave vessels little room to maneuver, as turning away from one ship could place a vessel at risk of an even more serious incident with another, Schuster said.

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The force of the impact could have thrown overboard sailors who were standing on the opposite side of the destroyer from where it was struck, he said. That could account for the missing sailors, who may have been on deck on watch or even just relaxing in the night air, he said.

Sailors also could have been trapped in compartments below deck, Schuster said, pointing out that container ships have a bulbous bow below the water line, which may have plowed into the US warship.

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