Following Sunday’s collision of the USS John S. McCain with a merchant vessel, divers have reportedly recovered “some” of the remains of the ten missing sailors in the aftermath of the incident that triggered a one-day U.S. Navy operational pause. The sailors were said to be trapped in the ship’s flooded compartments. The Royal Malaysian Navy has also apparently recovered one body, however officials are still trying to determine whether not not it’s one of the missing sailors.
Commander of the ship, Admiral Scott H. Swift (above), held a news conference early Tuesday morning to give a status on the recovery effort. “We have discovered other bodies during the diving on the McCain today,” Admiral Swift said. “But it is premature to say how many or what the status of the recovery of those bodies is.”
He continued, promising that the search at sea would go on regardless of the discovery of remains in the ship. “The focus of the United States Pacific Fleet is our 10 missing sailors and their families. We are always hopeful there are survivors.”
The is the second time this has happened with a U.S. warship in recent history, as seven sailors perished when the USS Fitzgerald collided with a merchant ship off the coast of Japan just two months ago in June. Previously, President Trump responded “That’s too bad” when asked about the more recent incident.
Tonight's pool report: Trump responded to questions about today's collision of the USS John S. McCain: "'That's too bad,' he said."
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) August 21, 2017