Posted at 5:25 p.m., Wednesday, November 7, 2001

Search for Ehime Maru victims ends

By William Cole
Advertiser Staff Writer

After diving for 23 days on the Ehime Maru, the Navy has ended its historic attempt to recover nine men and boys who died when the Japanese fishing training vessel was rammed and sunk Feb. 9 by a fast-attack nuclear submarine.

The recovery effort came to a stop yesterday at 3:47 p.m., officials said today. The Navy recovered eight bodies after the Ehime Maru was moved from 2,000 feet to a shallow-water site, but did not locate the remains of Takeshi Mizuguchi, a 17-year-old student aboard the training vessel.

Navy Rear Adm. William Klemm said the recovery of eight bodies — which exceeded expectations — "makes us feel very good." But that feeling was tempered by the inability to find Mizuguchi.

"Our thoughts and prayers go out to the Mizuguchi family, whose son is still unaccounted for," Klemm said.

Klemm said it was "a very emotional briefing, a very difficult briefing" when the family yesterday was told the recovery phase had ended. The family presented 24 roses to the command staff, a gesture Klemm said was a "measure of kindness and class that goes beyond anything I've seen in my life."

About 60 Navy and Japanese civilian divers logged 425 dives and over 333 hours on the sunken ship.

Thirty divers from the Japanese self-defense forces ship JDS Chihaya will conduct follow-up dives over the next several weeks. The Navy hopes to conclude all operations around the end of the month. A site in 6,000 feet of water will serve as the Ehime Maru's final resting place.