Search and rescue operations were underway early Saturday for nine people missing after a US nuclear submarine collided with a Japanese fishing boat southeast of Honolulu, sinking the vessel, US officials said.
Thirty-five people had been aboard the ship, but 26 were rescued about an hour after the boat went down in Friday's collision near Hawaii, coast guard officials said.
A Japanese government spokesman said the capsized boat was a training ship and high school students were among those missing.
Japan Broadcasting Corporation reported in Tokyo that the crew included 13 high school students, two teachers and 20 professional crew members who were trawling for tuna. According to US media reports, the missing included four students, two teacher and three crew members.
Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori said Saturday that the United States has apologized for the accident.
"The US side has apologized and explained that it was doing its utmost in the search," Premier Mori told reporters when he summoned a special risk management meeting on the accident.
"Right now, we have to do everything possible to find missing people."
Mori's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda also said the apology could mean that Washington has acknowledged that it was to blame for the disaster.
Four US naval and coast guard vessels and two US aircraft were searching the area for the missing, Japanese officials said.
US Coast guard spokeswoman Lauren Smith said that 12 of the survivors were taken to local hospitals for treatment. The extent of their injuries was unknown.
Officials with Japan's coast guard said the boat was the 499-tonne training ship Ehime Maru from a fisheries high school in Uwajima on the western Japan island of Shikoku.
The submarine, the USS Greenville, based in Pearl Harbour north of Honolulu, was at first thought to have sustained no damage, but upon closer inspection US naval officials said early Saturday that there was "superficial damage" to the sub's exterior.
Pentagon spokesman Commander Greg Smith said the accident occurred at 1:45 pm Friday (2345 GMT), about 14 kilometers (nine miles) south of Diamond Head, on the southern coast of the Hawaiian island of Oahu.
The submarine, which was on routine operations, "was surfacing when its stern apparently collided with a motor vessel," Smith said.
It was not known how the Greenville, one of the most technologically-advanced attack submarines in the US naval fleet, could have apparently been reponsible for such an accident, but Commander Smith said there would be a full investigation.
Weather reports said winds at the time of the accident were between approximately 20 and 30 miles (around 40 and 50 kilometers) per hour.
The submarine had remained on the surface and was assisting with rescue operations, officials said.
The Ehime Maru left Misaki port in Miura at the mouth of Tokyo Bay on January 10 and was scheduled to return home March 23, reports said.
The Japanese government has asked the US administration, through the US embassy in Tokyo, to do its best to rescue the missing crew members, a Japanese foreign ministry official said.
"First of all, we have to concentrate our efforts on saving lives. And then, we need to find out the cause of the accident and consult the US government over the matter," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda said.
Fukuda, the top government spokesman, also told reporters that since youngsters were among the missing "I cannot help but wish none of them will be sacrificed." -- WASHINGTON (AFP)
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