Salvage ship lifts Ehime Maru again
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By Catherine E. Toth
Advertiser Staff Writer
Navy and civilian salvage experts early yesterday morning again lifted the stern of the Ehime Maru off the ocean floor to adjust cables needed to move the sunken ship to shallow water.
Using remotely operated vehicles, crew members were repositioning one of two cables that snagged when they were pulled beneath the 830-ton Japanese vessel on Wednesday. Today's operation, which began at 2 a.m., continued all day.
"Sometimes they have to stop and let the silt settle," said spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Jeff Bender.
The salvage vessel Rockwater 2 had to return to port Saturday for heavier straps after a sling being used to lift the stern snapped Friday.
Once the cables are repositioned, Bender said, they will be used to drag large metal plates under the ship so it can be raised about 100 feet for the move to shallower water off Honolulu International Airport's reef runway.
There, divers will try to recover the remains of nine people believed trapped inside the vessel since it was struck by the submarine USS Greeneville on Feb. 9 and sank in 2,000 feet of water.
