-- The captain of the Japanese fisheries training ship sunk last month by a U.S. Navy submarine gave a harrowing account of the accident in testimony Wednesday before a high-level navy panel and called for the inquiry into its causes to be thorough to prevent similar disasters.
"I would like this court of inquiry to thoroughly investigate why this terrible accident occurred and to find some way to ensure safety so that this kind of accident can be prevented in the future," Hisao Onishi said.
Onishi, 58, was asked to testify about what happened Feb. 9 before, during and immediately after the 6,080-ton USS Greeneville hit the 499-ton Ehime Maru during a rapid surfacing maneuver about 18 km off Oahu Island, leaving nine Japanese students, teachers and crew lost at sea.
In the presence of the Greeneville's then captain, Cmdr. Scott Waddle, Onishi recounted how the Ehime Maru was sailing out to sea into fine weather, away from somewhat hazy skies, when the sub slammed into it from below.