10 sailors missing after US destroyer collides with merchant vessel

At least 10 sailors are reported missing and five injured after a US destroyer collided on Monday with an oil tanker east of Singapore, in the second accident involving US Navy destroyers in Asian waters in little more than two months.

"There are currently 10 sailors missing and five injured," said the navy in an update on the collision between the guided-missile destroyer USS John S McCain and merchant vessel Alnic MC in the early hours.

Search and rescue efforts are under way in coordination with local authorities, the Navy said in a statement posted on the website of the Commander of the US Pacific Fleet.

"In addition to tug boats out of Singapore, the Republic of Singapore Navy ship RSS Gallant, RSN helicopters and Police Coast Guard vessel Basking Shark are currently in the area to render assistance," it said.

The statement said MV-22 Ospreys and SH-60S Sea Hawks from USS America were also responding. 

The collision was reported at 6:24 am (Japan Standard Time), while the ship was transiting to a routine port visit in Singapore.

No spill

The oil tanker was carrying nearly 12,000 tonnes of fuel oil, but there was no oil spill, a crew member said.

“We are carrying 11,987 tonnes of fuel oil. There is no oil spill. We were carrying fuel oil from Taiwan to discharge to Singapore," the crew member who did not want to be identified said over the telephone. "We are proceeding to Raffles Reserved Anchorage where the owners will investigate the matter. There was some damage to the valve.” 

The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) lists the Raffles Reserved Anchorage to the South of Bukom Island to be reserved for “vessels requiring emergency repairs and damaged vessels or as directed by the Port Master.” 

Second accident 

The collision is the second involving a US guided missile destroyer in the Pacific in nine weeks.

The US Navy said last week it had removed the two senior officers and the senior enlisted sailor on the USS Fitzgerald, which almost sank off the coast of Japan after it was struck by a Philippine container ship early on June 17.

That collision killed seven US sailors.

The USS Fitzgerald and USS John S McCain are both ballistic missile defence (BMD) capable ships and part of the same Japan-based destroyer squadron. The Seventh Fleet has six ships assigned to BMD patrols, with half of those out on patrol at any one time.

Asked whether the US Navy would need to bring forward other ships to maintain its strength, a spokesman for the Seventh Fleet said it was "way too early to know".

The series of maritime mishaps in Asian waters comes at a tense time in the region. North Korea threatened last week to fire ballistic missiles towards the US Pacific territory of Guam, ratcheting up tensions with US President Donald Trump, who had threatened to unleash "fire and fury" on Pyongyang if it threatened the United States.