Captain of stricken $1.5bn US Navy destroyer is airlifted to hospital as up to SEVEN sailors are missing or feared dead after it collided with 29,000 ton cargo ship off Japan
Navy destroyer USS Fitzgerald collided with a Philippines merchant vessel off the coast of Japan Saturday
US defense official said there are seven sailors unaccounted for and three injured, including the commander
Rescuers are searching for seamen thought to be lost at sea or trapped inside the damaged naval vessel
The Navy says damage occurred to the starboard side, above and below the Fitzgerald’s waterline
Bryce Benson was appointed Executive Officer of the Fitzgerald in 2015, took over as Commander last month
By Mary Kekatos and Michael Fitzpatrick In Tokyo
DailMail.com
17 June 2017
The captain of the stricken USS Fitzgerald was among those injured during the collision of the warship with a 29,000 ton cargo vessel on Friday as the US Navy said that up to seven missing sailors could be trapped in the mangled wreck.
Rescuers are working to reach the compartments below deck as the destroyer is tugged back to port without its captain Bryce Benson, who has been ‘transferred to U.S. Naval Hospital Yokosuka and is reportedly in stable condition’, according to a press statement from the US 7th Fleet.
The Wisconsin native, who took command of the AEGIS-equipped vessel in May of 2016, was med-evacuated along with two other crew members from the ship after the collision with the the container vessel ACX Crystal and is in a stable condition.
Meanwhile, the United States has refused to speculate on the shocking accident despite not having an official ambassador to Japan after Caroline Kennedy returned home and the Trump administration not announcing a replacement.
Rescuers are searching for seven US Sailors thought to be lost at sea or trapped inside the damaged Navy destroyer which collided with a 29,000 ton cargo ship 56 miles off the coast of Japan Saturday.
The guided missile destroyer USS Fitzgerald suffered severe damage when the container ship ACX Crystal – which is four times the size of the naval vessel – plowed into it at 2.30am local time.
Aerial footage shows the crushed exterior of the 9,000 ton $1.5billion destroyer which is commanded by Commander Bryce Benson, who took over in May.
Japanese coast guard spokesman Yoshihito Nakamura said the rescuers are searching for the seamen who were thought to have been thrown into the sea or possibly trapped inside damaged sections of the destroyer. Two crew berthings and one engineering main space have been flooded.
Three aboard the destroyer were medically evacuated, including the ship’s commanding officer, Cmdr. Benson, who was reportedly in stable condition after being airlifted to the U.S. Naval Hospital in Yokosuka, the Navy said.
The other two injured were transferred to the hospital for lacerations and bruises, while other injuries were being assessed, it said.
‘It was a was real fight by crew to keep the ship afloat. Our concerns now are with ship mates; seven sailors missing and 2 evacuees. When the news came we were all focused on the safety of or ship and the crew,’ a naval spokesman in Yokosuka told DailyMail.com. ‘We at the base are still reeling from the events.’
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