US Envoy Conveys Apology to Japanese PM Over Ship Collision

Bush Envoy Apologizes for Fatal Sub Crash

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A special envoy from Washington on Tuesday conveyed an apology from US President George W. Bush to Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori for the sinking of a Japanese fisheries training ship by a US submarine off Hawaii earlier this month, Kyodo News reported.

Adm. William Fallon, vice chief of naval operations in the US Navy, handed over the apology from Bush in a meeting with Mori at the Japanese prime minister's official residence in Tokyo, the report said.

Fallon, who flew into the Yokota Air Base in western Tokyo on a military plane earlier in the day, issued a statement upon his arrival, asking the Japanese people to accept the US apology forthe February 9 tragedy, which has left nine Japanese missing.

"I sincerely and humbly request -- on behalf of the United States government, the United States Navy and the American people - - that the government and people of Japan accept our apology for the tragic loss of the Ehime Maru," Fallon said.


US Envoy Conveys Apology to Japanese PM Over Ship Collision

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"I know my words cannot express the profound sorrow and regret that the American people feel over this tragic event," he said in the statement.

Fallon is scheduled to meet the families of those missing and executives of Japan's three ruling parties Wednesday before leaving from Yokota base on Thursday morning, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda told a press conference on Tuesday morning.

In the meeting with the family members, the US envoy is expected to reply to 31 demands they submitted earlier to the US Navy, according to Japanese government sources.

The 499-ton Ehime Maru, a training ship from Uwajima Fisheries High School in Ehime Prefecture, western Japan, sank in waters off Hawaii minutes after being hit by the 6,080-ton USS Greeneville, which was executing a rapid-surface maneuver.

Of the 35 on the Japanese ship, 26 were rescued, but nine others, including four 17-year-old students are missing and feared dead.

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