{"id":329063,"date":"2017-06-17T10:44:11","date_gmt":"2017-06-17T10:44:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=329063"},"modified":"2017-06-17T10:44:11","modified_gmt":"2017-06-17T10:44:11","slug":"uss-fitzgerald-crash-seven-navy-crew-missing-off-japan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/06\/uss-fitzgerald-crash-seven-navy-crew-missing-off-japan\/","title":{"rendered":"USS Fitzgerald crash: Seven navy crew missing off Japan"},"content":{"rendered":"
Seven US Navy crew members are missing after their ship collided with a merchant vessel off the coast of Japan.<\/p>\n
Among the injured is the USS Fitzgerald’s commanding officer, who was taken to hospital by helicopter.<\/p>\n
The destroyer collided with the container ship about 56 nautical miles (104km) south-west of Yokosuka.<\/p>\n
Aerial images showed heavy damage to the Navy ship’s starboard side after the collision at about 02:30 local time on Saturday (17:30 GMT Friday).<\/p>\n
What happened?<\/strong><\/p>\n The collision occurred near Yokosuka, a Japanese port city that is home to the US 7th Fleet, which comprises up to 80 submarines and ships and including the USS Fitzgerald.<\/p>\n It is unclear where the 154-metre (505ft) guided missile destroyer ship was heading at the time.<\/p>\n The ACX Crystal, a 222-metre (730ft) Filipino-flagged container ship, was travelling between the Japanese cities of Nagoya and Tokyo.<\/p>\n Marine traffic records suggest the ACX Crystal made a sudden U-turn roughly 25 minutes before the collision with the USS Fitzgerald. It is not clear why it changed course.<\/p>\n Marine traffic records suggest it was travelling at 14.6 knots (27km\/h) at the time of the collision.<\/p>\n