The cost of salvaging a Japanese high school fisheries training vessel that was accidentally struck and sunk off Honolulu by a U.S. nuclear-powered submarine has ballooned to an estimated $60 million or about 7 billion yen due to difficulties encountered by the salvaging team, U.S. Navy officials said Saturday.
The cost already exceeds the originally estimated $40 million and will likely increase with the raising of the 499-ton Ehime Maru from its 600-meter-deep resting place, which has been delayed until mid-October, the officials said.
The salvaging operations that started in early August were originally scheduled to end by mid-September. The search for the bodies of those believed to be entombed inside the ship is to begin after the ship is lifted and hauled to shallow waters.
However, setbacks including rough weather, technical problems, and two failed attempts to lift the ship's stern have delayed operations by almost a month, leading to the cost blowout, the authorities said.
The Ehime Maru was struck and sunk Feb. 9 by the U.S. submarine Greeneville while the sub was conducting an emergency-surfacing maneuver for a group of civilian visitors on board.
Nine of the 35 people aboard the Ehime Maru, including four students from Uwajima Fisheries High School in Ehime Prefecture , were lost at sea. The Navy now believes that five to seven of them remain inside the ship.