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Tuesday, August 21, 2001




GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM
The Japanese Defense Force submarine recovery ship
Chihaya arrived in Pearl Harbor yesterday afternoon.



Japanese skipper says
Ehime Maru salvage
will be challenging


Kyodo News Service

The captain of a Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force (MSDF) ship, which arrived in Honolulu to help the U.S. Navy salvage the Ehime Maru said he believes the salvage operation will prove challenging.

"We have never experienced putting people at the bottom of the ocean to do recovery work," Capt. Masao Kuramoto said at a press conference yesterday afternoon.

Kuramoto leads a crew of about 130 aboard the Chihaya, a submarine rescue ship, which will support the Navy's efforts to transport the Ehime Maru from its current depth of about 2,000 feet to a shallow shoal off Honolulu International Airport.

Navy divers will then be dispatched to search for the remains of the nine missing crew members of the Ehime Maru, including four high school students.

After the Navy completes its recovery, about 30 MSDF divers will enter the ship to make a final inspection before the vessel is permanently sunk in international waters.

Kuramoto said one of the greatest challenges for the divers will be navigating the ship's narrow corridors, which may have been heavily damaged.

The Ehime Maru from Uwajima Fisheries High School in western Japan, was struck and sunk Feb. 9 by the nuclear-powered submarine USS Greeneville, while the 6,080-ton sub was conducting an emergency surfacing maneuver for a group of civilian visitors.



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