Image Remains of a number of USS John S. McCain Sailors located

Remains of a number of USS John S. McCain Sailors located

August 22, 2017
1 min read

CHANGI NAVAL BASE, Republic Of Singapore

Remains belonging to some of the 10 missing Sailors aboard the USS John S. McCain (DDG 56) have been discovered, Adm. Scott Swift, commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet said Tuesday. Adm. Swift said that Sailors were discovered today by divers performing recovery operations inside the Yokosuka-based guided-missile destroyer, which is part of the Navy’s 7th Fleet.

Image USS John S. McCain
USS John S. McCain, following the collision with the merchant vessel Alnic MC on Aug. 21.

Adm. Swift also stated that the Royal Malaysian Navy has reported the discovery of potential remains of another missing Sailor, located while providing search and rescue assistance east of the Straits of Malacca and Singapore.

The search has been ongoing since early Aug. 21 following the collision of the McCain and the merchant vessel Alnic MC, about 4-1/2 miles off Malaysia’s coast as the destroyer was making its way through the heavily trafficked Singapore Strait.

Five crew members were also wounded during the collision, four of whom were medevacked to a hospital.

“While the search and rescue efforts continue, I sincerely thank our Singapore partners, our Malaysian partners and everyone who has responded with urgency, compassion and tireless commitment,” Adm. Swift said.

Adm. Swift said that early investigation doesn’t show that a cyber attack may have caused the McCain to collide with the Alnic MC, but it hasn’t been ruled out. Swift added that, “One tragedy like this is one too many. And while each of these four events is unique, they cannot be viewed in isolation.” The admiral referred to the recent collision in June of USS Fitzgerald with a Philippine cargo ship off the coast of Japan where seven sailors died, USS Antietam running aground near Yokosuka in January, and the May collision of USS Lake Champlain with a South Korean fishing vessel.

President Trump released a statement offering his condolences to the families of the Sailors and said the Defense Department will conduct an investigation into the collision.

[Main image: Roslan Rahman / AFP]

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