Two more bodies recovered from Ehime Maru

By James Gonser
Advertiser Staff Writer

Navy divers recovered two more bodies from the sunken Ehime Maru yesterday and the city Medical Examiner's office has identified the two bodies recovered Wednesday .

The remains of chief engineer Toshimichi Furuya, left, and student Toshiya Sakashima were identified by the city Medical Examiner's office. Advertiser library photos

Recovered earlier in the week were the bodies of 17-year-old student Katsuya Nomoto and Hirotaka Segawa, the ship's 60-year-old chief radio officer.

A total of six bodies have been recovered. The fifth and sixth bodies have not yet been identified.

Based on accounts of 26 Ehime Maru survivors, the Navy expects to find up to seven bodies inside the hull during its $60 million recovery effort. Nine men and boys were killed when the Ehime Maru sank.

In February, Toshimichi Furuya's sister Shizuko Kimura said she was certain her brother, who was in the engine room at the time of the collision, remained inside the vessel at the bottom of the sea and pleaded with the Navy to recover his body.

"I am not asking you to bring him back alive, but please bring his body back," Kimura said at the time. "Please give my brother back for my mother who's waiting for him in Japan."

Divers, working in teams of two to four, are moving carefully through the interior of the vessel resting at a depth of 115 feet and about a mile away from the Honolulu airport's reef runway.

Navy spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Gregg Baumann said divers have only one-to-two feet of visibility inside the ship because of silt and must avoid sharp objects, which could puncture breathing equipment.

Navy and Japanese divers have found some personal items, but are leaving them in place until the search for bodies is completed.