The U.S. Navy on Friday succeeded in lifting and moving the Ehime Maru, a Japanese fisheries training ship that sank in February off Hawaii after being hit by a U.S. submarine, paving the way for the vessel to be salvaged, navy officials said.
The salvage vessel Rockwater 2 began lifting the ship's bow around noon Friday and moved the vessel within three hours to a firm patch of seabed some 34 meters away from where it had come to rest.
The navy then began preparations to position a steel plate beneath the Ehime Maru at the new site, which is about 600 meters below the surface, so that the rigging can begin. If all goes well, full salvage operations will begin as early as Monday, the officials said.
The operation to move the vessel to the new site was originally scheduled for Thursday but postponed for one day as work to thread wires through the anchor holes of the 499-ton ship and attach them to the lifting device took longer than expected.
Once the navy succeeds in bringing the vessel up to shallow waters, divers are expected to be dispatched to retrieve the remains of the nine people who were lost when the Ehime Maru was sunk, five to seven of whom are still believed to be inside the ship.
The Ehime Maru, which belongs to Uwajima Fisheries High School in Ehime Prefecture, was struck and sunk Feb. 9 by the U.S. nuclear-powered submarine Greeneville while the 6,080-ton vessel was conducting an emergency surfacing maneuver for a group of civilian visitors.
Nine of the 35 people aboard the training ship, including four high school students, have not been recovered.