Ehime Maru Families Hear Recovery Plans

U.S. Navy officials briefed families in Uwajima, a small town about 430 miles southwest of Tokyo, on plans to salvage a Japanese fishing boat that sank off the coast of Hawaii in a collision with a U.S. submarine, a local official said.

Nine Japanese boys and men are believed to be entombed in the wreck of the Ehime Maru, a training vessel for apprentice fishermen, which sank after being rammed by the surfacing Greeneville on Feb. 9.

Their families have asked that the bodies be recovered. The Navy has contracted with private firms to tow the vessel closer to shore so divers can search for victims’ remains and belongings.