Medical examiner identifies Ehime Maru crewmember

By Mike Gordon and Tanya Bricking
Advertiser Staff Writer

The city medical examiner today identified the remains of Hirotaka Segawa, the first crewman found by divers in the ongoing operation to recovery the bodies of the men and boys lost in the Ehime Maru collision.

Hirotaka Segawa: Remains identified by medical examiner. Advertiser library photo

Chief Medical Examiner Kanthi von Guenthner said her office identified Segawa using dental records. The cause of death was drowning, she said.

"We would like to express our sincere condolences to all the family members who lost their loved ones on the Ehime Maru," von Guenthner said.

Navy divers, meanwhile, returned to the Ehime Maru today amid hopes they would recover additional sets of remains of victims killed when the ship sank in February.

"We will proceed inside the vessel to clear passageways and search in the process," said Navy spokesman Cmdr. Dave Wray. "We are also clearing hazards on the deck."

Navy divers taking pictures through portholes, hatches and doors of the sunken Ehime Maru found and recovered the first body.

The discovery of Segawa's body, made within 24 hours of the first dives since the Japanese fishing vessel was towed to shallower water, was the biggest breakthrough in the Navy's $60 million mission to find remains of nine people who died in the accident with the USS Greeneville eight months ago.

The Navy is turning the remains over to von Guenthner, who has the legal responsibility of identifying the dead and notifying family members.

The Navy and the Japanese Consulate will assist in the notification process.

The Navy will not disclose where they find bodies within the ship because it doesn't want the victims' families to make assumptions about who has been located, Navy spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Gregg Baumann said.

If more bodies or personal effects are found, the Navy will alert the public only after contacting the medical examiner and the victims' families. Depending on the condition of the bodies, DNA testing may be necessary.

For months, recovering the bodies has been all the Japanese families have demanded. It has been central to a culture rooted in the belief that the dead continue to live with their bodies.

Navy personnel in an inflatable boat motor in front of the Crowley barge that is moored above the wreckage of the Ehime Maru, in 115 feet of water near the end of Honolulu International Airport's reef runway. Diving recovery operations began yesterday. Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser

"For the victims' families, it will be of tremendous significance," said Sheila Smith, a Japan specialist at Honolulu's East-West Center who has been gauging reaction since the USS Greeneville gashed the Ehime Maru's hull Feb. 9. Most media accounts in Japan have noted appreciation that the Navy has gone to such expense and difficulty, she said.

"It isn't like closure," Smith said. "Closure is a Western term."

But finding a body is a step in the grieving process and means the Navy can begin to deal with the deaths with dignity and respect, said Lt. Cmdr. Neil Sheehan, a Navy liaison officer working with the Japanese government and victims' families.

Based on accounts of 26 Ehime Maru survivors, the Navy expects to find five to seven sets of remains inside the hull of the Ehime Maru.

It's unlikely Masumi Terata's 17-year-old son, Yusuke, will be one of them. Yusuke, captain of the Uwajima Fisheries High School fencing club, was last seen on the bridge of the ship, petrified with fear. Hirotaka Segawa, the communication officer who had tried unsuccessfully to make an SOS call before the ship sank, was also on deck.

The unidentified body could be that of crewmen Hiroshi Nishida or Toshimichi Furuya, who were on duty in the engine room; or teachers Hiroshi Makizawa and Jun Nakata, who had been resting; or Takeshi Mizuguchi, who had just celebrated his 17th birthday; or Katsuya Nomoto, who had earned the nickname "Junior" while on the ship; or Toshiya Sakashima, whose best friend survived.

Masumi Terata, who came to Honolulu this week to hear Navy developments firsthand, is glad just for hope that others will be found.

"When I heard that one body was found in the Ehime Maru, I lost all my strength," she said. "Some remains were trapped inside of the ship, as we thought. We appreciate that the Navy is working very hard to carry out the salvage of the Ehime Maru, which we demand. However, this success of the salvage is not an end. We still have to find out what the cause of the accident was."

Blame so far has amounted to poor judgment by crew aboard the USS Greeneville. The Navy submarine was practicing an emergency surfacing drill for civilian guests when it surfaced at precisely the wrong spot.

The Greeneville's skipper lost his job. The United States sent apologies. Yet in Japan, the Western idea of closure remains elusive.

Interpreter Toshi Erikson contributed to this report.

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