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Sub Crash Search Continues, Investigation Begins
Sub Crash Search Continues, Investigation Begins
The Bush administration on Sunday pledged a thorough search for the nine missing people from the "terrible tragedy" in which a US submarine sank a Japanese ship off Hawaii, as anguished relatives of the missing arrived in Honolulu to seek answers.
US Coast Guard and Navy aircraft widened the search on Sunday for the missing -- including four 17-year-old students -- whose training ship, which was observing tuna stocks about nine miles south of Oahu, was struck on Friday by the USS Greeneville.
A party of about 30 officials from the fisheries training school and relatives of the missing arrived in Honolulu from Japan to be closer to the search operation, a spokeswoman for the Japanese consulate said.
Coast Guard and Navy officials were due to brief them later on Sunday, she said.
"There will be no information while we stay at home," said Ryosuke Terata, father of Yusuke Terata, one of the four missing 17-year-olds, as he left his home. "We will go with the whole family as we believe he is still alive."
Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori told reporters the search for possible survivors was the top priority, but added:
"If they cannot be found on the surface of the sea, we would have to address our worries and see inside the ship." Mori said it might be necessary to raise the Japanese trawler that sank in 1,800 feet (548 meters) of water.
There was no immediate US response to the idea of raising the ship but US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Colin Powell, appearing on television talk shows, renewed Washington's expressions of regret.
"A Terrible Tragedy"
"It was a terrible tragedy, we know that, and there is still a search-and-rescue operation taking place to try to find the missing people... We're doing everything humanly possible to try to find the remaining participants on that ship," Rumsfeld said.
Asked about possible compensation, he said:"The United States government has brought the families over, and it's been putting people up and taking care of the situation. And certainly it will do the proper thing when the facts are fully sorted out."
In a separate appearance, Powell said Washington had apologized to Japan "every way we know how".
"We extend our condolences to the Japanese people and of course to the family members, and we'll do everything we can to find out what happened and present that information to the public...
"We're doing everything we can to express our regret and also to make sure this doesn't affect the very strong relationship that we have with Japan," Powell said.
The collision was the subject of the first major contact by the new administration of President George W. Bush with Washington's top Asian ally.
Search aircraft had already covered an area of more than 3,000 square miles -- an area more than twice the size of Rhode Island -- by Sunday morning as hopes faded of finding survivors because of exposure and reports that most of the missing had been below deck at the time of the collision.
Debris from the 499-ton Ehime Maru was being collected at a Coast Guard station in Honolulu as the first step in an investigation, said Coast Guard spokesman Tyler Johnson.
Aircraft Sweep Low In Search For Survivors
A Navy search plane, a Coast Guard C-130 cargo plane and a helicopter flew low over the ocean as they followed wind and water currents to a broader area further to the southwest of Oahu, Johnson said.
The Coast Guard will search for another full day and then decide whether to suspend the effort, Johnson said.
The fact that the Greeneville -- a sophisticated, nuclear powered attack submarine -- did not send sailors into the water to help after the collision has prompted criticism from survivors.
The Ehime Maru sank before the US Coast Guard received its first distress call. Its rescue boats were at the scene within 25 minutes and were the first to pluck survivors from choppy waters. A total of 26 people were rescued.
Ehime Maru captain Hisao Onishi, 58, told reporters on Saturday in Honolulu that the Greenville had turned and come alongside the area where his ship sunk, but that the crew had apparently done nothing to help search for survivors.
"You can be sure the crew of the Greeneville was working feverishly to get information to the people who could best assist in the recovery of survivors," said Lt. Cmdr. Dave Werner, Navy spokesman for the US Pacific Fleet's submarine force at Pearl Harbor.
Admiral Thomas Fargo, commander of the US Pacific Fleet, said the Navy's investigation would focus on the submarine's surfacing procedure. He said the submarine should have conducted both an acoustic and visual search prior to surfacing.
The US Pacific Fleet said the commander of the Greeneville, Cmdr. Scott Waddle, 41, had been reassigned pending the results of the probe.
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