Society

Bodies found in ship following collision

Jun 18 (NHK) - The US Navy says it has found several bodies on the USS Fitzgerald destroyer. They are believed to be crew members missing after the ship collided with a Philippine-flagged container vessel off eastern Japan.

The bodies were found on Sunday in the damaged Aegis destroyer after it docked at Yokosuka, south of Tokyo.

The destroyer and the ACX Crystal container vessel collided about 20 kilometers off the Izu Peninsula early on Saturday. The destroyer's captain and two sailors were injured.

The American ship suffered severe damage on its starboard side. Sleeping quarters and a machine room were flooded. US Navy personnel removed water from the ship to search for the missing crew members.

They found several bodies in the sleeping quarters.

The Philippine container vessel was about 20 kilometers off Irozaki Cape at 2:30 AM when it reported to the Coast Guard that it had collided with a US navy vessel.

The 8,315-ton USS Fitzgerald is 154 meters long.

The Filipino container vessel, ACX Crystal, is roughly 222 meters long and weighs 29,060 tons. It suffered slight damage to its bow and arrived at a pier in Tokyo shortly after 5 PM.

Source: ANNnewsCH

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