DHAKA: The US Navy intends to remove Vice Adm. Joseph Aucoin as the commander of the US 7th Fleet, based in Yokosuka, Japan, reports CNN quoting a US official.
This follows an incident Monday (August 21) in which the guided-missile destroyer USS John S. McCain collided with a merchant ship.
Ten sailors assigned to the ship were missing following the accident, and the Navy has reported that "some" remains have been recovered, Adm. Scott Swift, commander of the US Pacific Fleet, said Tuesday (August 22).
The McCain and the tanker ship collided Monday east of the Malacca Strait, the fourth time a US warship has been involved in an accident in Asian waters this year.
US Navy and Marine Corps divers found the remains in the sealed compartments aboard the McCain after it docked at a naval base in Singapore, said Swift. US military divers continue to search the flooded areas of the McCain.
The Royal Malaysian Navy has located one body at sea, and officials are working to determine whether it is one of the missing sailors, he said. Ships and planes are scouring the seas east of Singapore.
"Until we have exhausted any potential of recovering survivors or bodies, the search and rescue efforts will continue," Swift said.
The White House expressed its "great sadness" about the incident. "As the Navy begins the process of recovering our fallen sailors, our thoughts and prayers go out to their families and friends," the statement said.
A statement from the 7th Fleet did not address the potential dismissal of Aucoin, but said that the McCain's sailors were "trying to regain some stability."
As well as providing material support from the amphibious assault ship the USS America, the 7th Fleet statement said that the Navy was providing mental health support and other counseling and medical resources.
The McCain collision followed another fatal collision in June involving the USS Fitzgerald and a commercial container ship, killing seven sailors. Both the Fitzgerald's executive officer and senior enlisted sailor were dismissed following the incident.
Following the McCain collision, the Navy said that it would put an "operational pause" on all Navy vessels and ordered a broad investigation. Four accidents involving ships have occurred in the western Pacific since February, according to The New York Times.
BDST: 0901 HRS, AUG 23, 2017
SI
