Ehime victim’s parents take
ashes back to Japan

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Kyodo News Service

MATSUYAMA, Japan >> The parents of 17-year-old student Yusuke Terata, who perished in the Feb. 9 collision between the Ehime Maru, a Japanese fisheries school training ship, and a U.S. Navy submarine off Hawaii, returned to Japan from Hawaii yesterday with their son's ashes.

Yusuke's father, Ryosuke, 45, and mother, Masumi, 43, issued a comment through a friend saying, "It has become a very painful return to Japan. We never want such a tragic accident to happen again."

Yusuke's body was recovered last month.

As they entered Matsuyama airport's arrival lobby, Yusuke's parents bowed to teachers from Uwajima Fisheries High School in Ehime Prefecture, to which the Ehime Maru belonged, and walked toward their younger son, Shunsuke, 16, and several dozen relatives who had awaited their return.

Ryosuke, holding Yusuke's ashes, just managed to say, "This is Yusuke." Masumi was crying.

Yusuke, three other students, two teachers and three crew members died after the 499-ton Ehime Maru, which had been carrying a total of 35 crew members, was struck and sunk by the 6,080-ton nuclear submarine Greeneville. Only one of the nine remains missing.