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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Tuesday, October 16, 2001

Navy divers prepare to board Ehime Maru

 •  Interactive graphic on how the Ehime Maru was moved to shallower waters
 •  Advertiser special: Collision at Sea

By Tanya Bricking
Advertiser Staff Writer

Navy divers plan to approach the decks of the Ehime Maru this afternoon, marking the first human touch to the ship since it became a grave eight months ago.

A Crowley Marine Co. barge is moored above the Ehime Maru recovery site after the ship's move from its original spot off Diamond Head. The barge will serve as a diving support vessel. The sunken Japanese ship now sits about a mile off the airport's reef runway.

Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser

A diving support barge contracted from Crowley Marine Co. completed mooring yesterday above the Ehime Maru recovery site. The activity was a major visible sign of progress in the Navy's extensive $60 million effort to tow the Japanese fisheries training vessel to shallow water.

It has been a technically challenging undertaking and a delicate political situation. Giant straps used to move the 830-ton Ehime Maru broke twice, and the unprecedented operation is $20 million over budget.

But the expense also means making good on a Navy promise to Japanese families to try to recover remains of nine people who went down with the ship after the USS Greeneville submarine accidentally gashed its hull Feb. 9 while performing a surfacing drill for civilian guests.

The Ehime Maru, which sank in 2,000 feet of water, now rests in a site 115 feet deep and about a mile away from Honolulu International Airport's reef runway. Now that the ship has had two days to settle from the tow, salvage divers will begin clearing debris, such as fishing lines, from its decks.

The underwater robots are gone, and divers are another step closer to going inside the hull.

"The first order is to clean hazards and to make it safe for divers to get inside," said Cmdr. David Wray, a Navy spokesman for the recovery operation.

What's expected to be a 33-day diving mission began yesterday afternoon with two Navy scuba divers, who examined the outside of the Ehime Maru to ensure the ship's stability and identify potential hazards. Two other divers set up devices to measure the ship's incline. They also installed ladders for divers and attached marker buoys to identify the position of the ship.

If the weather cooperates and the schedule goes as planned this afternoon, salvage divers, who breathe from the surface and wear boots to climb around, will begin clearing debris from the exterior decks of the ship, Wray said.

Divers will work only during daylight hours in teams of two to four people. They will look for any sign of the four teenage boys and five men last seen before the ship sank. The Navy is going on accounts of 26 survivors to know where to look for the missing. Family members will be notified first if any personal effects are found, Wray said, and no sensitive video or photographs will be released without the permission of the families.

On the water's surface, sea-skimming boats moved along in a V-shaped pattern yesterday to clean up any diesel fuel that has leaked from the ship. Only a small amount has been found, Wray said. A Coast Guard helicopter also has been flying above the area looking for any oil sheen that needs to be skimmed.

Several family members and the Ehime Maru's captain are in Honolulu waiting for word about the recovery.

Two anchors from the ship already have been recovered and will be returned to the Japanese government.

Divers will look for items of interest to the families and the Japanese government, who have asked for things such as the ship's wheel, Wray said. Once the diving mission is finished, the wreckage will be towed back to sea to sink in about 8,000 feet of water.

Reach Tanya Bricking at tbricking@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8026.