Families told search Family members of the nine people lost when the Ehime Maru sank more than a month ago have been told by the Navy that the search may last another 10 days depending on weather, access to the ship's compartments and visibility within the ship.
may last 10 more days
6 of 9 crewmen have been recovered
from the sunken vesselA simple ring gives hope to Ehime Maru victim's wife
By Gregg K. Kakesako
gkakesako@starbulletin.comThe Navy yesterday told the families that it expects that the underwater search, which began last Monday of all three decks of the 190-foot ship, could be shortened or lengthened depending on conditions at sea and in the vessel.
So far, six of the nine crewmen, who were missing after the ship collided with the attack submarine USS Greeneville Feb. 9, have been recovered.
The Navy has consistently stuck to estimates that only five to seven bodies would be found. That estimate was based on eyewitness statements on where the nine missing crewmen were last seen.
Navy officials also have refused to say where the six sets of remains were found. They are wary that family members of the missing also know where their loved ones may have been when the Ehime Maru went down. The job gets harder this week because some of the missing are known to have been on the Ehime Maru's exposed deck when the ship sank.
Secrecy also has surrounded the recovery of personal effects from both the deep-water site nine miles south of Diamond Head and at the reef runway site where the Ehime Maru was relocated a week ago. At least 56 personal items have been recovered, including a wedding ring from one of three missing, a schoolteacher.
The Navy hopes to takes relatives of the nine missing people to the reef runway shallow water recovery dive site tomorrow where they can observe Navy and Japanese civilian divers at work.
Cremation of five of the six bodies recovered so far will be done here with Ehime Prefecture Gov. Moriyuki Kato expected to attend.
Still unaccounted for are Uwajima Fisheries School teachers Hiroshi Makizawa and Jun Nakata and two 17-year-old students, Takeshi Mizuguchi and Yusuke Terata.
The key to the ease and swiftness of last week's operations has been the eyewitness accounts used to guide 60 Navy and six Japanese civilian divers. Even Lt. Cmdr. Gregg Baumann, Naval Sea Systems project relocation manager, was surprised at the recovery operation's speed.
"I think we had anticipated a little more harder and difficult time in accessing some of the spaces and compartments than we have, but that does not mean the compartments and spaces haven't been blocked by debris," Baumann said.
The five identified are: Toshimichi Furuya, 47, the Ehime Maru's chief engineer; Hirotaka Segawa, 60, the ship's chief radio operator; Hiroshi Nishida, 49, first engineer; and students Toshiya Sakashima and Katsuya Nomoto, both 17. A sixth set of remains will need DNA testing for positive identification, which could take at least a month.