Navy accident in Guam kills 1 of 8 injured sailors
One of the eight sailors injured when a steam pipe ruptured on a Navy vessel moored in Guam died in a San Antonio Army hospital yesterday.
The Navy has withheld the name of the sailor -- a fireman on the submarine tender USS Frank Cable -- until his family has been notified. He and seven other sailors were injured Dec. 1 after the ship had returned to Apra Harbor in Guam.
Of the six sailors taken to Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio for treatment, four remain in very serious condition and one has been released for outpatient follow-up, the Navy said in a news release.
"Our Navy is deeply saddened by this tragedy," said Pacific Submarine Force commander Rear Adm. Joseph Walsh in the statement. "We are grateful for his service to our country, and offer our deepest sympathies to his family."
The eight crew members were first taken to the Naval Hospital on Guam. Two were treated and released in Guam.
The remaining six were flown the next day to Oahu on a C-17 Globemaster cargo jet based at Hickam Air Force Base, which had just landed in Guam.
The six victims were taken to Tripler Army Medical Center on Saturday, where they spent 10 hours before being taken by another Hickam C-17 to Texas.
The USS Frank Cable remains in Guam while damage is assessed and the accident is investigated.
The accident occurred 23 months after the Guam-based nuclear attack submarine USS San Francisco struck an undersea mountain in the western Pacific, killing one sailor and injuring 97 other crewmen.