Japanese Minister Meets With U.S. Admiral
Ehime Maru Survivors Leave Hawaii
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The commander of the U.S. Pacific Command met Monday afternoon with Japanese Foreign Affairs Secretary Yoshitaka Sakurada, about 72 hours after the collision on Friday between the submarine USS Greeneville and the Japanese fishing vessel Ehime Maru.
Commissioned: Feb. 16, 1996
Los Angeles-class attack nuclear submarine
Homeported in Pearl Harbor in March 1997
Max crew: 130
Adm. Dennis Blair expressed his regret to Sakurada for the collision, which sank the fishing ship. He also said that the U.S. is sending a deep-sea submersible robot from California to search the sea floor for the ship (click here for more on that story).
"I want to emphasize that the search-and-rescue effort now underway will continue as if it were our own countrymen on the fishing vessel," Blair said during a press conference.
Blair would not disclose specific details about the accident.
Nine student survivors of the collision left Hawaii for Japan Monday afternoon, as the search continued for the nine crewmen who are still missing from the vessel.
The students, who were wearing donated clothes, and one teacher boarded a Japan Airlines flight for Osaka, which left at 12:30 p.m.
Meanwhile, officials took the families of missing crew members to the site where the U.S. Navy submarine sank the Japanese fishing boat on Friday.
The families arrived in Hawaii Sunday. They took a private charter boat Monday to the area about 9 miles southwest of Diamond Head where the Greeneville collided with the Ehime Maru.
The Ehime Maru carried 35 crew members, including teachers and 13 high school students who were on board for training. The students were from Uwajima Fisheries High School in Ehime Prefecture.
U.S. Coast Guard and Navy teams continued to search for the missing crew members Monday. Officials said that they have searched 6,000 square miles but found no debris.
Three separate investigations have been launched into the crash by the Coast Guard, the Navy and the National Transportation Safety Board. (Click here for the latest on the investigation)
USS GREENEVILLE
EHIME MARU
Specs:
499 tons
190.8 feet long
30.5 feet wide
Max crew: 76
TODAY'S DEVLOPMENTS:
CRASH RESOURCES:
WEB LINKS
The Ehime Maru carried 35 crew members, including teachers and 13 high school students who were on board for training. The students were from Uwajima Fisheries High School in Ehime Prefecture.
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