Seven US Navy sailors are missing off the coast of Japan after an Aegis guided missile destroyer, the USS Fitzgerald, collided with a container ship early on Saturday, causing significant damage and flooding.

Three sailors, including the destroyer's commanding officer, Commander Bryce Benson, were evacuated from the damaged vessel and are being treated at the US naval hospital at Yokosuka, the home of the US Navy's Seventh Fleet.

Commander Benson was reported to be in stable condition in the hospital, while the other two were still having their injuries assessed. The Seventh Fleet had set up an information centre for families of sailors serving on the ship.

The cause of the collision was not yet clear.