PEARL HARBOR, Oahu, Hawaii -- A sling being used to lift the 830-ton Ehime Maru off the ocean surface broke Friday afternoon during a second attempt to place two wires under Japanese fishing vessel.

According to the Navy, the sling snapped when the stern of the ship was 24 feet above the ocean floor, causing the ship to fall quickly to the bottom. The Navy said that remote-controlled submersibles found that the ship didn't sustain any additional damage.

The sling incident is the latest snag to hit the operation to eventually raise and move the Ehime Maru to shallower waters off the Honolulu Airport reef runway (see map below), where divers will scour the vessel for the nine men and boys presumed trapped in the ship's hull. The ship currently sits in 2,000 feet of water about ten miles south of Diamond Head.

On Wednesday, the Navy was able to successfully raise the ship, but later found that one of two rigging wires strung under the sunken vessel had been misplaced. Friday's operation was an attempt to reposition the wire.