The U.S. Navy on Friday unveiled plans to start salvaging the Japanese fisheries training ship Ehime Maru in August and recover the bodies of nine people believed to have been trapped inside the vessel when it sank off Hawaii following a collision with a U.S. submarine in February.
The U.S. Navy has concluded that the operation, which is to start as early as late August, will have no serious environmental impact. The relatives of the victims have been demanding that the ship be salvaged.
The operation will involve several steps: Lifting the vessel from the seabed, moving it to shallower waters and sending down teams of U.S. and Japanese divers to search for the bodies.
The U.S. Navy estimates that the total cost of the operation will be $40 million.