Sailors likely at fault in cargo-ship collision: official

pulse 17:36 - 21 July 2017

A preliminary investigation has found that the crew of the naval destroyer USS Fitzgerald was at fault for a June 17 collision with a Philippine-flagged vessel that left seven sailors dead

The crew of a Navy destroyer that collided with a Philippine-flagged cargo ship will "certainly" be held accountable for the crash that killed seven American sailors, a US defense official said Friday.

"The way it looks now, it seems that the crew on the (USS) Fitzgerald is going to be at fault," the official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

"They are certainly going to be held accountable in some way for their actions," the official added, noting that the determination was based on preliminary findings from the probe.

"This is something we take very seriously. There are seven sailors that lost their lives."

The sailors were killed in a June 17 predawn collision between the USS Fitzgerald and the Philippine-flagged ACX Crystal in a busy shipping channel off Japan's coast.

The sailors, aged 19 to 37, were found by divers in flooded sleeping berths a day after the collision tore a huge gash in the side of the USS Fitzgerald.

There have been around 30 ship collisions over the past decade in the busy shipping area, including a 2013 incident in which six Japanese crew died, according to the Japan Coast Guard.