The captain of a Maritime Self-Defense Force ship that arrived here Monday to help the U.S. Navy salvage a sunken Japanese fisheries training ship said he believes the salvage work will be challenging. "We have never experienced putting people at the bottom of the ocean to do recovery work," Capt. Masao Kuramoto said at a news conference Monday afternoon.
Kuramoto leads a crew of about 130 aboard the Chihaya, a submarine-rescue ship, which will support the navy's efforts to transport the Ehime Maru from its current depth of about 600 meters to a shallow shoal off Honolulu International Airport.
The 5,450-ton Chihaya is equipped with deep-sea rescue apparatus and search sonar, as well as a decompression chamber. The ship is also transporting the Deep Submergence Rescue Vehicle, which can raise objects weighing up to 100 kg.
Navy divers will then be dispatched to search for the remains and personal effects of the nine missing crew members of the 499-ton Ehime Maru, including four high school students.