U.S. Coast Guard officials said Sunday that the search for nine missing sailors from the Japanese fishing vessel Ehime Maru, which was sunk Friday by the submarine USS Greeneville about nine miles south of Diamond Head, will continue on Monday.
Sunday's search included a Coast Guard helicopter, C-130 aircraft, two Coast Guard cutters plus Navy helicopters, aircraft and surface ships. The search has covered more than 4,600 square miles.
"Certainly the longer that we go without signs of people in the water, the more diificult it is to continue," Coast Guard Capt. Steve Newell said. "We have not reached that point yet."
Family members of missing crewmen arrived in Honolulu Sunday morning to await the outcome of a search for their loved ones. About 34 family members and officials arrived from Osaka on two separate flights.
They were greeted by Yoshitaka Sakurada, Japanese vice minister of foreign affairs, and two U.S. military officers. After leaving their planes, away from the media, they boarded small tourist buses to travel to their hotel.
Several of the group were crying, and one woman was leaning on the shoulder of another woman and sobbing. The somber U.S. officers bowed to the families upon their arrival and then bowed again as the buses departed.
About four hours later, the relatives met with Coast Guard and
U.S. Navy officials at the Coast Guard base at Sand Island.
"They were quite concerned about the particulars of the accident," Newell said. "We told them we were not in a position to comment on that at this point, that the NTSB is looking into the actual cause of the accident. The focus of our efforts has been to recover survivors."
The fishing students who survived the collision will be returning to Japan Monday, Japanese education officials said. They also said that the families of the victims who are still missing have not yet discussed possible compensation or reparations from the U.S. government.
The Japanese government has asked the United States to salvage the Ehime Maru, but the Coast Guard said that there are no plans yet to recover the vessel.
The
National Transportation Safety Board plans to meet with the survivors Sunday evening. Navy officials said Sunday that they will have no public statement about their investigation.
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