US navy says the search for the crew has ended, suggesting they have all been found dead after the collision with container vessel off Japan

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

The US navy has ended its search for seven sailors who went missing after their destroyer collided with a container ship near Japan, suggesting that all of the crew members’ bodies have been recovered.

Vice-admiral Joseph Aucoin, the commander of the US navy’s 7th Fleet, did not specify how many bodies had been found inside the stricken vessel while their next of kin are still being notified.

Earlier on Sunday, the 7th fleet said “a number” of bodies had been recovered from flooded areas of the USS Fitzgerald.



“We have found the remains of a number of our missing shipmates, and our deepest sympathies go out to the families of those shipmates,” Aucoin told reporters at the Fitzgerald’s home port of Yokosuka, south of Tokyo.

“We owe it to our families and the navy to understand what happened” Aucoin said, adding that he would oversee an investigation into the cause of the accident.

He praised the “heroic efforts” of the Fitzgerald’s crew in preventing their ship from sinking after it collided with the ACX Crystal 100km from Japan’s east coast in the early hours of Saturday morning.

“They prevented the ship from foundering, or even sinking, last night. As to how much warning they had, I don’t know. That’s going to be found out during the investigation, but it was a significant impact that the crew had to fight very hard to keep the ship afloat.”



Aucoin confirmed that the Fitzgerald had been seriously damaged below the waterline and near its keel, causing a “tremendous” influx of water. “The damage was significant,” he said. “There was a big gash under the water.”

The ship’s commander, Bryce Benson, was “lucky to be alive” as his cabin, where he had been resting at the time of the collision, had been destroyed, Aucoin said.

Benson was reportedly in a stable condition after being airlifted to the US naval hospital at the Yokosuka base, the navy said. Two other injured crew members were treated at the hospital for cuts and bruises.

The 7th fleet said in a statement earlier on Sunday that “a number” of the missing sailors had been found.



“As search and rescue crews gained access to the spaces that were damaged during the collision this morning, the missing sailors were located in the flooded berthing compartments,” it added.

The bodies were being transferred for identification to the US naval hospital in the Fitzgerald’s home port of Yokosuka, south of Tokyo.

“The families are being notified and being provided the support they need during this difficult time,” the statement said. “The names of the sailors will be released after all notifications are made.”

The ACX Crystal, which is more than three times the size of the Fitzgerald, berthed at Tokyo’s Oi wharf, where its crew were being questioned by investigators. All 20 of the Filipino sailors aboard the vessel were safe, its Japanese operator, Nippon Yusen KK, said.

Search teams were only able to inspect the damaged mid-right side of the Fitzgerald after water had been pumped out. The ship limped back to Yokosuka with the help of tug boats on Saturday evening.

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Before Sunday’s announcement, Donald Trump expressed his thanks to Japan for its help in the search mission, tweeting: “Thoughts and prayers [are] with the sailors of USS Fitzgerald and their families.”



Trump had earlier been criticised on social media for not commenting publicly on the accident for several hours.

Several Japanese self-defence force and coast guard vessels were involved in the search and rescue mission, along with the USS Dewey and naval aircraft.

While the cause of the accident remains a mystery, Japan’s public broadcaster NHK said the ACX Crystal had made a sharp turn shortly before the collision.

But that account was later challenged by the ship’s skipper. “(We) were sailing in the same direction as the US destroyer was and then collided,” he was quoted as saying by Jiji Press.

Japanese and US officials were discussing how to conduct the investigation. Japan is permitted to investigate since the collision happened in its waters, but under the countries’ status of forces agreement the US has primary jurisdiction over incidents involving vessels such as the Fitzgerald.

Japan’s coastguard and the US navy plan to question crew members from the ACX Crystal, and could treat the collision as a possible case of endangerment of traffic caused by professional negligence, Kyodo news said.

“We can’t comment on the accident as it’s being handled by the Japanese coastguard,” a spokesman for Nippon Yusen told AFP. “We will fully cooperate with authorities investigating the case.”

Maritime safety experts contacted by the Guardian said it was too early to comment on the possible cause of the accident.

CNN’s national security analyst, John Kirby, reflected the confusion over what had happened under darkness in the sea off Japan in a commentary for the network’s website.

“We do not know whether the warship’s radars were operating sufficiently. We do not know what decisions the men and women who were standing watch aboard the destroyer made – or failed to make – that could have averted the danger. We do not know what actions, if any, were taken by the crew of the freighter to either cause or avoid this tragedy,” he said.

Kirby, a retired rear admiral in the US navy, added that he expected officials would be punished once the navy had completed its “thorough” and “clear” investigation.

“It won’t be just the navy that gets the lash here,” he said. “Careers will be dashed. People will be punished. Short of battle at sea, navy warships are not supposed to hit anything – not the ground, not each other, and certainly not container ships in the middle of the night.”