Hope fading in sub collision search

HONOLULU (AP) — With hope fading, the search continued Sunday for the nine crew members, students and teachers lost at sea when a U.S. submarine, rising fast from the Pacific depths, sliced open and sank their fishing boat.

“The longer we go without signs there are people in the water, the more difficult it becomes for us to continue. But we have not reached this point yet,” said Coast Guard Capt. Steven A. Newell.

The 34-member group flew to Hawaii from Osaka to be with survivors and await word of the three crew members, two teachers and four students — boys on a field trip learning to fish.

Twenty-six shipmates were rescued from the sea after the 180-foot Ehime Maru fishing vessel sank in 1,800 feet of water 10 minutes after it was struck by the USS Greeneville on Friday afternoon.

Cmdr. Bruce Cole, Pacific Fleet spokesman, fielded questions from the families about Navy plans to raise the sunken vessel, but was unable to provide details, Newell said. The Navy has the ability to raise a ship from such depths, he said, but the equipment was not yet in place.

He said the Coast Guard is weighing a request by some family members to visit the site of the collision. The ship sank about 9 miles from Diamond Head and 20 miles southeast of Pearl Harbor.

The Ehime Maru’s captain, Hisao Onishi, earlier questioned why the 26 survivors had to wait 50 minutes to be rescued.

A Coast Guard helicopter and plane reached the scene about 35 minutes after the collision. Patrol boats arrived about 15 minutes later, said Coast Guard spokesman Lt. Greg Fondran.

Adm. Thomas Fargo, commander in chief of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, said choppy waters and the submarine’s round hull made opening the hatches too dangerous. Waves were three to four feet with a six-foot swell at the time, he said.

The Greeneville, a nuclear-powered, Los Angeles-class attack submarine, carried 130 sailors and 15 civilians during a one-day training mission as part of a community relations program.

It collided with the ship while practicing an emergency surfacing procedure known as an “emergency blow” that resembles a whale breaching.

At a depth of about 60 feet, the submarine does periscope and acoustic searches for hazards, said Lt. Cmdr. Dave Werner, spokesman for Commander, Submarine Forces Pacific. If the water is found to be clear, the vessel returns to a greater depth and then surges to the surface, Werner said.

In trying to learn why the submarine — 360-foot long and weighing 6,900 tons — did not notice the 180-foot fishing ship, the Navy said it will inspect the submarine’s log books, any videotapes of periscope viewings and electronic records of any acoustics in the ocean.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said the investigation also will cover whether such training should take place farther off shore.

The submarine’s commanding officer, Cmdr. Scott Waddle, was reassigned to the staff of Rear Adm. Al Konetzni Jr., commander of Submarine Forces Pacific, pending the outcome of the investigations.

Japan’s prime minister lodged a protest with the United States, demanding that the ship be raised from the ocean bottom, an official said.