However, not all crewmembers who went missing after the guided-missile destroyer USS John S. McCain crashed into the tanker Alnic MC have been accounted for, according to a statement from the U.S. Navy.
The remains of at least some of the 10 American sailors who were declared missing after their ship collided with a Liberian-flagged oil and chemical tanker have been found, according to the commander of the U.S. Navy Pacific Fleet.
Adm. Scott Swift said that not all crewmembers who were unaccounted for after the guided-missile destroyer USS John S. McCain collided with the tanker Alnic MC have been discovered Aug. 22 by divers performing recovery operations, but that the Royal Malaysian Navy has said that it has also found potential remains of another missing McCain sailor as the ship provided search and rescue assistance.
The incident occurred around 6:20 a.m. local time as both vessels were east of the Straits of Malacca en route to Singapore for a port call.
The John S. McCain, which is homeported at Yokosuka, Japan, suffered a deep gash on her port side, but was able to set sail under its own power to Changi Naval Base in Singapore. It was at the base that Swift addressed a group of international media, updating them on the status of the investigation into the crash. The admiral said the search for the missing sailors remains the main focus.
None of the names of the missing have been publicly released by the Navy.
The Navy has said that despite rumors and speculation, there’s currently no indication that cyber-sabotage played a role in the incident. The speculation began after CNN and other media reported that the Navy destroyer lost steering just before the collision.
U.S. Navy Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson subsequently tweeted that there are “no indications right now” that the Navy vessel’s systems were hacked, but that an investigation is expected to “consider all possibilities.”
The USS McCain was the fourth vessel within the Yokosuka, Japan-based 7th Fleet to have been involved in an incident this year, with the second most recent being a very similar collision in June, when seven U.S. sailors were killed and three others severely injured after the ACX Crystal, a containership chartered by Japanese ocean carrier NYK Line, collided with U.S. Navy destroyer USS Fitzgerald in the Philippine Sea.
No injuries were reported on board Philippines-flagged ACX Crystal, which is owned by Dainichi-Invest Corp. and operated by NYK, nor was any oil spilled from the vessel. However, the U.S. Navy destroyer, which is nearly four times smaller than the containership, suffered severe damage and has to be towed back to the United States for repairs.
Alnic MC is a nine-year-old 600-foot oil and chemical tanker with a gross tonnage of 30,000. The double-hulled vessel, which is owned by Marshall Islands-headquartered Energetic Tank Inc. and operated by Greece-based shipping company Stealth Maritime Corp. S.A. reported no injuries or spillage.
The tanker is about four times larger than the 25-year-old USS John S. McCain, which is 505 feet long and weighs less than 9,000 tons with a full crew. As of Aug. 22, it remains in Singapore.
Remains of U.S. sailors found after collision between oil tanker, Navy warship
