Claims filed The Navy says that survivors, family members and the Ehime prefecture have filed claims against the U.S. government seeking damages resulting from the collision between a Japanese fisheries training vessel and a nuclear submarine Feb. 9.
against U.S. for
Ehime Maru accident;
eighth body found
Survivors, family members
and the Ehime Prefecture
are seeking damagesBy Gregg K. Kakesako
gkakesako@starbulletin.comNine people from Ehime died and 26 were rescued when the 190-foot fishing vessel Ehime Maru, which was owned by the Uwajima Fisheries High School, sank nine miles south of Diamond Head.
Meanwhile, the Navy said its divers recovered an eighth body at dusk yesterday and turned it over to the city medical examiner for identification.
The medical examiner used dental records yesterday to identify the body found Wednesday as Jun Nakata, a 33-year-old Uwajima Fisheries High School teacher. The cause of death was drowning. Nakata was the sixth victim identified. A seventh recovered body has yet to be identified.
Recovery operations continued today at the airport runway site.
Lt. Pauline Storum, Navy spokeswoman, said the Ehime prefecture has filed a claim seeking reimbursement for the Ehime Maru, which will not be refloated. The government there has said it plans to build a similar vessel and use it as a teaching tool. Storum did not know what it would cost to replace the ship.
Storum also could not say how many survivors or family members filed claims and the amounts they were seeking.
The secretary of the Navy has the authority to settle and pay claims in which the settlement does not exceed $1 million and the matter is not in litigation. Claims exceeding $1 million are referred to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Storum said there is no required form or format the families and survivors must use.
"They can write a letter outlining the facts and the amount claimed," she said. "They need to enclose any supporting documents."
The claims are being handled by the Office of the Judge Advocate General Admiralty and Maritime Law Division in Washington, D.C. There is a two-year limitation period.
The other five victims who have been identified are Hirotaka Segawa, 60, the chief radio operator; Toshimichi Furuya, 47, the chief engineer; Hiroshi Nishida, 49, a first engineer; and two 17-year-old students, Toshiya Sakashima and Katsuya Nomoto. Their remains were cremated yesterday.
Still unaccounted for are Uwajima Fisheries School teacher Hiroshi Makizawa and two 17-year-old students, Takeshi Mizuguchi and Yusuke Terata.
The USS Greeneville was conducting a rapid-surfacing demonstration for civilian guests when it struck the Japanese ship. The Ehime Maru sank in 2,000 feet of water, but it was relocated to a shallow-water recovery site about one mile from Honolulu Airport. More than 50 percent of the vessel has been searched.