Tokyo, Japan. With so many objects clustered up in the North Korean provocation operation, an American Navy vessel has rammed another ship, leaving a number of sailors missing and many injured, it is unknown if any are dead at this time.
The Japanese Coast Guard said it received an emergency call from a Philippine registered container ship the Crystal around 2:20 am, that it had collided with the USS Fitzgerald southwest of Yokusuka, Japan.
There are seven crew members who are missing and one injured after a US Navy destroyer collided early Saturday morning with a merchant ship off the coast of Japan, the country’s coast guard reported. Coast guard official Takeshi Aikawa said seven crew members are unaccounted for, and one had a head injury. Further details of his or her condition were not known.
Film footage from the Japanese TV network coverage showed heavy damage to the mid-right side of the Navy ship and a person in a stretcher being lifted to a helicopter. The 7th Fleet said on its Facebook page that the number of injuries is still being determined.
The Navy’s 7th Fleet said the ship experienced flooding in some areas and is heading back to Yokosuka. The fleet said the Fitzgerald has limited propulsion, and the ship suffered damage on the starboard side below the water line. The collision occurred 56 nautical miles southwest of Yokosuka, a city south of Tokyo that is home to the American Navy’s 7th Fleet. A defense official said there is flooding in three compartments of the Fitzgerald.
The American Navy’s Pacific Fleet said the extent of injuries and damage to the Fitzgerald are being determined, and the incident is under investigation. President Trump has been notified and calling relatives of crewmembers, after his daughter Ivanka saw film footage of the damage to the ship on television.