Tuesday January 9, 2007 3:16 AM
TOKYO (AP) - A U.S. nuclear submarine and Japanese merchant ship collided in the Arabian Sea late Monday, but there were no injuries on either vessel, the U.S. Navy and Japanese officials said.
There was no damage to the fast-attack USS Newport News submarine or the ship that affected either vessel's ability to navigate, said a Navy official, who requested anonymity because the details of the incident had not yet been released.
The official said the Navy was going to check for any other damage after daybreak Tuesday.
The cause of the collision, which occurred late Monday night local time, is still under investigation, the Navy official said.
The Japanese government received word of a crash from the U.S. side but was still investigating details, said Naoki Kumagai, deputy director of the U.S. security division at Japan's Foreign Ministry.
Commander Kevin Aandahl of the U.S. 5th Fleet in Bahrain said he had no immediate details.
``I can confirm that an incident took place between one of our submarines and a merchant ship,'' he said.
Japanese oil company Showa Shell Sekiyu K.K. said the ship involved is the tanker Mogamigawa operated by Kawasaki Kisen Ltd., Kyodo said. It was traveling from the Persian Gulf to Singapore and was carrying a crew of eight Japanese and 16 Filipinos.
In February 2001, a U.S. Navy submarine rammed into a Japanese fishing vessel in waters off Hawaii, killing nine people. The American captain's delay in apologizing for the crash triggered protests by the victims' families.
TOKYO (Reuters) - A U.S. nuclear submarine and a Japanese tanker have collided in the Arabian Sea, a Japanese defence ministry spokesman said on Tuesday.
The spokesman said the ministry was investigating the incident but no other details were immediately available.
Officials quoted by Kyodo news agency said there were no reports of injuries.
A Foreign Ministry official said the ministry was trying to verify reports of the incident.
Comments