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Saturday Morning News

U.S. Submarine Accidentally Rams Japanese Fishing Boat

Aired February 10, 2001 - 7:01 a.m. ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: We begin this morning in the Hawaiian Islands, where there's a massive search for nine people missing from a Japanese fishing boat that was rammed by the USS Greeneville. The 360-foot nuclear Los-Angeles class attack sub was surfacing off Waikiki when it struck the Ehime Maru, a floating classroom that teaches commercial fishing to Japanese students.

Twenty-six people aboard the Japanese boat were rescued. The submarine was not damaged.

CNN's Loretta LePore has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LORETTA LEPORE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Navy says the USS Greeneville was on routine patrol when the collision took place. The Japanese fishing vessel was carrying 35 people, including 13 teenaged students. The Navy says the rear portion of the sub struck the 190-foot boat, a fishing training vessel, which quickly went down in the waters off the coast of Hawaii near Honolulu.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When we arrived on scene, there was a -- probably about six rafts, a few of them were linked together, and a lot of debris in the water. And everybody appeared to be in the rafts when we got on scene. We circled probably about three or four times before the lifeboats came out. And all we could see was just debris and the rafts.

LEPORE: The survivors were taken to a Coast Guard station in Honolulu. Most were in relatively good condition. Some were transferred to local hospitals with minor injuries.

It's not clear why the submarine crew did not detect the fishing vessel before coming to the surface. During normal surfacing procedure, the submarine crew does a sonar check of the area, followed by a visual scan by periscope.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If a boat is stopped, if the engines are not on, if the generators for that particular boat are not functioning at the time, then there are no sound waves in the water for the submarine to detect. So if this fishing boat was, in fact, dead in the water, if it had no sound-generating mechanisms going at the time, then the submarine wouldn't have heard it.

As to why it wouldn't have been seen by a periscope search, I'm not real sure.

LEPORE: There are no reports of injuries to the submarine crew or damage to the sub. Once the search and rescue operation has concluded, the Navy plans a thorough investigation.

Loretta LePore, CNN.

O'BRIEN: President Bush got the news of the accident at Camp David, where he is spending the weekend. The call came from National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice.

CNN White House correspondent Kelly Wallace at the White House with the latest in all this. Good morning, Kelly.

KELLY WALLACE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning, Miles, from a very windy Saturday morning in the nation's capital.

The U.S. has expressed its regrets over this accident to the Japanese government. We have learned from the State Department that last night the acting assistant secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs called the Japanese ambassador here in Washington to express regrets over this Navy submarine accident.

As for other efforts going on, of course the Pentagon will be monitoring the search and recovery efforts, the U.S. trying to do everything it possibly can to assist with those efforts.

As for President Bush, he left for Camp David, the presidential retreat in the Maryland mountains, yesterday afternoon. Around 9:00, his national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, called him to inform him of what happened off the coast of Hawaii. The president's national security adviser was calling him from the White House situation room, where top military advisers were gathering information.

At this time, we do not know if President Bush has reached out or plans to on this day to call his Japanese prime minister, Yoshiro Mori. Again, White House and the State Department really referring all questions to the Defense Department, the Pentagon, again, overseeing the search and recovery efforts -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Kelly, an early test of the Bush administration, dealing with a bit of an overseas international crisis. Do you get the sense that they're coming out of this with their footing where it should be?

WALLACE: Yes. I mean, again, one of the first tests for this new administration, last night, of course, you had the president's national security adviser here at the White House, along with top military advisers gathering information, conveying that to the president. You of course had the normal thing that would happen in this case, the State Department conveying through normal diplomatic channels to the Japanese government, again, informing the government of this incident as well as conveying its regrets. So right now, you know, all is proceeding as typically would in this matter. Again, you know, right now, the main focus, of course, for the U.S. is to see if any of those people can be found that are still missing.

O'BRIEN: CNN's Kelly Wallace at the White House. Check in with you later. Thanks very much.

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