The international search-and-rescue mission for ten sailors that went missing from a collision in the Pacific made some headway early Tuesday, August 21, with U.S. Navy and Marine Corps divers reporting that they had discovered human remains. Hours before the discovery, the Malaysian navy confirmed that it too had recovered a body while reporting from eight nautical miles northwest of where the accident happened.
The sailors went missing on Monday when the USS John S. McCain crashed into a merchant vessel while navigating east of Singapore and the Malaysian peninsula. Thus far what is known is that the accident happened while the McCain was headed to shore for a routine port call. The impact from the meeting the Alnic MC tanker caused a hole to tear into the warship's port side at the waterline, causing crew compartments to flood. It was in one of the sealed chambers that the remains were discovered, according to officials. Work is being done to establish the identity of the individual who the remains belong to.
Monday's collision marked the fourth U.S. Pacific fleet accident to make headlines this year. Back in June, the bodies of seven sailors were recovered after the Fitzgerald collided with a Philippine container ship off of the coast of Japan. It is reported that the military plans to temporarily halt fleet operations in order to begin an investigation into a "common cause at the root of these events."
Source: huffingtonpost.com
