Japanese Relatives Press US Officials on Sub Crash

Anguished relatives of the nine Japanese missing after a surfacing US submarine sank their trawler off Hawaii asked US officials Sunday to raise the wreck which could now be the tomb of their loved ones.

Coast Guard Captain Steven Newell told reporters the request was made during a meeting between Coast Guard and Navy representatives and a group of about 30 relatives and others connected with the doomed ship.

"The request has been made of the U.S. government. We are aware of that request and it is in process," Newell said, adding:

"The families had a significant number of questions about salvaging the vessel. We were not in a position to answer those questions." The ship is lying in 1,800 feet (548 meters) of water.

The relatives and officials of the fisheries training school that organized the ship's voyage arrived in Honolulu earlier on Sunday, three days after the nuclear-powered submarine USS Greeneville shot out of the depths directly underneath the 499-ton Ehime Maru.

Of the 35 people on board the Japanese vessel, 26 were rescued. Four of the missing are 17-year-olds who were on the ship as part of commercial fisheries training.

Newell, who is the chief of operations for the Coast Guard in the western Pacific, said that during the closed-door meeting the relatives had asked about the cause of the accident but these questions could only be addressed once results came in from probes now underway.

"The relatives asked to be taken to the site of the collision, about nine miles south of Diamond Head, and the Coast Guard is considering that request," he said.

Newell said the Coast Guard would remained focused on searching for survivors through Monday at least.

"We have discounted the idea that there may be people trapped in the hull and still alive," he said. "There is a possibility that the bodies are still in the vessel, but we won't know that for sure and we will not suspend our search and rescue efforts on that possibility."

US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Colin Powell, appearing on television talk shows, renewed Washington's expressions of regret on Sunday.

"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.

Newell said a "small amount of debris" recovered from three days of non-stop searching was being cataloged and collected for investigators.

The Coast Guard said it would continue a widening search for the missing. By Monday, search aircraft and ships will have covered an area of more than 6,500 square miles -- an area larger than Connecticut.

Hopes of finding survivors have dimmed because most of the missing are believed to have been below deck at the time of the collision. The chances of surviving more than three days in the water without a life raft are slim.

The accident has drawn angry criticism in the Japanese media, especially after the captain of the Ehime Maru lashed out at the Greeneville for not having sent sailors or life boats overboard.

US officials rejected that criticism on Sunday.

"The Greeneville did assist as best they could. Given the sea conditions and the configuration of the submarine, other actions such as launching boats or pulling people out would have only increased the risks," Newell said.

Navy spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Dave Werner commented: "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."

The 360-foot-long Greeneville, which sailed back to Pearl Harbor on Saturday, was practicing an emergency surfacing procedure when it crashed into the Japanese ship.

Admiral Thomas Fargo, commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, said the Navy's investigation would focus on this 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, was reassigned pending the results of the probe.

The National Transportation Safety Board, which is conducting a investigation into the crash since it involved a civilian vessel, was expected to hold its first briefing later Sunday.






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