The captain of the Ehime Maru, the fishing vessel struck by the USS Greeneville on Friday, told reporters that he wondered why the submarine did not help the crew of his ship after it sank.

Capt. Hisa Onishi said that he felt a sudden impact when the stern of the submarine struck his ship as the submarine ascended out of the water. Onishi said that he ordered his crew into life rafts within minutes.

Onishi said that he felt that everyone from his ship was accounted for, but that he didn't have time for a head count.

"After I came on to liferaft, we looked so hard for everybody," Onishi said Saturday night as he wiped away tears.

Onishi said that his ship sank quickly, within 5 to 10 minutes. He said that the Greeneville circled back shortly after the accident. But according to the Navy, the submarine didn't mount a rescue attempt because of high seas at the time.

Onishi disputed that.

"At the time, I didn't see any waves crashing on the submarine," Onishi said. "I thought to myself, aren't there any liferafts on the submarine?"

Onishi did not answer a question about if he had any anger toward the the crew of the submarine or the way in which they they handled the accident.