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Agencies

US and Japanese vessels and aircraft were searching Saturday for seven American sailors who were missing after their navy destroyer collided before dawn with a container ship four times its size off the coast of Japan.
Aerial television footage showed one sailor lying on a stretcher and a rescuer being pulled up to a helicopter that was hovering above the USS Fitzgerald, its right side partially crushed.
Three sailors were injured in the predawn collision, including the guided missile destroyer’s commanding officer Bryce Benson.
“Two sailors, in addition to the commanding officer, have been medically evacuated from USS Fitzgerald to US Naval Hospital Yokosuka for lacerations and bruises,” the navy said.
“There are seven sailors unaccounted for; the ship and the Japanese Coast Guard continues to search for them.”
The accident between the Fitzgerald and Philippine-flagged ACX Crystal happened around 2:30 am off the coast off the Izu peninsula southwest of Tokyo, the US Navy and Japan’s coastguard said.
The area is a busy shipping channel near major container ports in Yokohoma and Tokyo.
Watch: US destroyer damaged in collision


“The volume of ships is heavy in this area and there have been accidents before,” coastguard official Yutaka Saito told Japan’s public broadcaster NHK.
It was not immediately clear what caused the collision, but NHK said the massive 222-metrecontainer ship made a sharp turn around the time of the accident.
Japan’s coastguard, which is probing the incident, has sent five vessels, two planes and a team of specially trained rescue personnel to help in the search for the missing crew, a spokesman said.

The USS Dewey and two Navy tugboats were helping out in the search and rescue, the US military said, while Japan’s Self-Defence Forces also joined the operation, sending three ships and several aircraft.
The 154-metre Fitzgerald - which was commissioned in 1995 and was deployed in the Iraq war in 2003 - is based in Yokosuka and operates in the Pacific and the Sea of Japan (East Sea).

The accident happened 104 kilometres southwest of Yokosuka, the navy said.
“My daughter is on the Fitzgerald,” a parent wrote on the 7th Fleet’s Facebook page.
“So worried. Just need to hear she is ok. Thinking of all of our sailors and their families!!”
US chief of naval operations Admiral John Richardson said in a statement: “As more information is learned we will be sure to share it with the Fitzgerald families and when appropriate the public.

“All of our thoughts and concerns are with the Fitzgerald crew and their families.”
Video by Japan’s public broadcaster NHK showed heavy damage to the right side of the Fitzgerald just ahead of the control tower, and that the ship had taken on water.
An orange hose was visible on the ship’s deck, with many crew members seen checking the damage.
The destroyer, piloted by two tugboats, was sailing to Yokosuka.
“The USS Fitzgerald suffered damage on her starboard side above and below the waterline. The collision resulted in some flooding,” the Navy said.

The Fitzgerald was still under its own power “although her propulsion was limited”, the navy said. It is not in danger of sinking and is headed back to port on its own power.
The footage meanwhile showed relatively light damage to the ACX Crystal.
Twenty crew members were aboard the container and none was injured, another Japanese coastguard spokesman said, adding that the vessel was separately sailing back to a Tokyo port.
“We are now investigating the case as further details, including the weather conditions at the time, are not available,” the spokesman said.
The ACX Crystal is a commercial container ship that, according to marine tracking websites, was on its way to Tokyo.
The ship carries a Philippine flag but is listed as owned by Japanese shipping giant NYK Line.
Agence France-Presse, Associated Press


Search for missing navy crew after US destroyer collides with  container ship off Japan

US destroyer’s commander among the injured and has been evacuated

The damage of Philippine-registered container ship ACX Crystal is seen off Izu Oshima, Japan, after it collided with the USS Fitzgerald, Saturday, June 17, 2017. The Japan coast guard said it received an emergency call from a Philippine-registered container ship ACX Crystal early Saturday that it had collided with the USS Fitzgerald. (Iori Sagisawa/Kyodo News via AP)

In this hand out photo from Japan Maritime Self-Defence Force taken on June 17, 2017 an injured crew member of the guided missile destroyer USS Fitzgerald is carried on a stretcher after arriving at the US naval base in Yokosuka, Kanagawa prefecture. The US Navy destroyer collided with ACX Crystal cargo ship off the coast of Japan, leaving seven crew members from the American vessel unaccounted for, the Japanese Coast Guard said. / AFP PHOTO / Japan Maritime Self-Defence Force / STR / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / Japan Maritime Self-Defence Force" - NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS == NO ARCHIVE

epa06032421 A handout photo made available by the 3rd Regional Coast Guard Headquarters shows the damaged container ship ACX Crystal after its collision with the US Navy destroyer USS Fitzgerald off the coast of Yokosuka, Japan, 17 June 2017. Latest media reports state that seven US Navy crew members are missing and one was injured. EPA/JAPAN COAST GUARD HANDOUT HANDOUT EDITORIAL USE ONLY/NO SALES

This picture shows the guided missile destroyer USS Fitzgerald next to a tugboat off the Shimoda coast after it collided with a Philippine-flagged container ship on June 17, 2017. The US Navy destroyer collided with ACX Crystal cargo ship off the coast of Japan, leaving seven crew members from the American vessel unaccounted for, the Japanese Coast Guard said. / AFP PHOTO / JIJI PRESS / STR / Japan OUT

Search for missing navy crew after US destroyer collides with container ship off Japan

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}US destroyer’s commander among the injured and has been evacuated

US destroyer’s commander among the injured and has been evacuated