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Saturday Morning News

Twenty-Six People Rescued After Submarine Mishap

Aired February 10, 2001 - 8:33 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: Our top story this morning is the collision yesterday between a U.S. nuclear sub and a Japanese fishing boat. The fishing boat was about 10 miles off Waikiki when the USS Greeneville surfaced underneath it. The stern of the sub apparently ruptured the boat's hull and it quickly sank in 18,000 feet of water.

Twenty-six of the 35 people aboard the fishing boat were rescued, but a search continues now for nine others, including four high school students who were part of a class taking a course in commercial fishing.

O'BRIEN: It's a busy morning at the Pentagon as a result of all this. Let's take it there and turn to CNN's Kathleen Koch, who has the latest. Kathleen?

KOCH: Miles, a search continues over a 300 square mile area now near Hawaii. U.S. Navy helicopters and vessels, Coast Guard helicopters and vessels are involved, desperately trying to find these nine people who may still be afloat somewhere in the waters there.

Now, clearly after this accident when this -- this was a 6,000 ton submarine, at 360 feet doubled the size of this Japanese fishing trawler. So when the two collided, this fishing trawler basically went to pieces and sunk immediately.

So there's very little left. We hear there is a debris field that they are searching and as yet have found no one.

Now, the Navy has very specific procedures that are clearly in place every time a submarine surfaces. There are some 35 submarines in the U.S. Pacific Fleet and retired Navy officials tell us that they search not only the area using sonar, but they search, they come up to periscope depth and visually search the waters around the submarine any time that a submarine is getting ready to surface. So at this point the Navy has no explanation as to what may have gone wrong.

Now, clearly if this is a case of human error, someone will have to be held responsible. Generally it is the captain of the vessel who is held responsible if there has been some tragic mistake, as may have occurred in this case.

We are told by the Navy that the seas at the time were three to four feet, that the weather was overcast, that the conditions were not terribly severe. So as of yet, no explanation as to why this may have happened. And the United States, of course, has conveyed its deep regrets and condolences to the country of Japan.

I'm Kathleen Koch reporting live at the Pentagon.

O'BRIEN: All right, thank you very much, Kathleen.

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