Families get good news on Ehime Maru salvage

By Tanya Bricking
Advertiser Staff Writer

Uwajima Mayor Hirohisa Ishibashi has been waiting for good news ever since the Feb. 9 collision of the USS Greeneville and the Ehime Maru. Yesterday, he had two things to smile about.

One was a gift of more than $150,000 from the Japan-America Society of Hawai'i. The other was President Bush's budget request asking Congress for $36 million for the recovery of the victims' bodies.

"This is very good news for us," said the mayor of the Japanese harbor town, home to the Ehime Maru.

Culturally, two things have remained on the forefront for Japanese families connected to the tragedy: They wanted an apology, and they wanted bodies of their loved ones found.

But there has been little the families have been able to do but wait, said Ikuhiko Ono, consul in charge of public affairs at the Japanese Consulate in Hawai'i.

"They are waiting for information," he said. "They are waiting for the result of the environmental assessment."

Results of a Navy study about the potential environmental impact of moving the Ehime Maru to shallower waters will give the families a better understanding of salvage efforts, he said.

The vessel lies in about 2,000 feet of water, and the Navy plans to move it to a depth where divers can search the ship for the missing crew members and personal effects. The families expect an announcement sometime in June.