Remains Found In Search For US Sailors Missing After Collision
BEIJING (CBSNEWS) - The commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet said Tuesday that divers had located bodies inside the stricken USS John S. McCain, a day after that American warship collided with a merchant vessel near the busy shipping lanes of the Strait of Malacca.
Admiral Scott Swift did not say how many bodies had been found inside the ship or where there were located in the vessel, but added that Malaysian Navy vessels had also discovered a body, and that work to confirm that discovery, and to remove and identify the remains found inside the McCain, was continuing.
Swift said the search for the 10 American sailors left missing after Monday's collision remained the focus of the Navy's efforts.
On Monday, hours after the U.S. Navy is temporarily suspending all ship operations worldwide after two collisions this summer between destroyers and merchant vessels.
A collision early on Monday with an oil tanker tore a large hole in the side of the USS John S. McCain. U.S. Marine Corps. and Navy divers joined the search effort on Tuesday, accessing flooded compartments of the stricken ship, which is now docked at Singapore's Changi Naval Base.
