10 Missing in Collision Between Japan's Training Ship, US Sub

10 Missing in Collision Between Japan's Training Ship, US Sub

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Ten people aboard a Japanese training ship went missing Friday after it sank following a collision with a US nuclear-powered submarine off Hawaii, local media reported.

The 10 are among 35 people who were aboard the ship. Twenty-five people have already been rescued, the report said.

The training ship is from a fisheries high school in Uwajima, Ehime Prefecture,western Japan, Kyodo News quoted the Japan Coast Guard as saying.

The collision between the 499-ton fisheries training vessel Ehime Maru and the submarine Greeneville occurred in the Pacific some 18 kilometers south of Oahu Island, according to the report.

Meanwhile, Japan's major public broadcaster NHK said 13 second- year high school students, two teachers and 20 crew members were on the boat for tuna fishing.

The training ship left Misaki port in Miura, Kanagawa Prefecture, on January 10 and was scheduled to return home on March 23, the NHK said.

US Navy Confirms Collision

US Navy spokeswoman Cate Mueller confirmed here that a US nuclear attack submarine collided with a Japanese commercial vessel while on routine patrol off Honolulu Harbor Friday.

The Japanese boat sank, Mueller said, but the submarine was not damaged.

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said President George W. Bush was told about the incident.

The submarine was commissioned in February 1996 and its home port is Pearl Harbor.

A Los Angeles-class sub, the USS Greeneville is 108 meters long, has a diameter of 9.9 meters and displaces 6,900 tons submerged. It is equipped with Tomahawk cruise missiles.