Divers find bodies in Japanese wreck

The victims all came from Uwajima, Japan

Two more bodies have been found in the sunken Japanese fishing boat Ehime Maru, bringing the total found to three, a US Navy spokesman has announced.

One body was recovered and sent to the Honolulu medical examiner for identification, but darkness set in before the other could be recovered.

Divers would go down to get it on Thursday, the Navy said.

The divers are trying to find nine sailors and students missing since their boat was accidentally sunk by a US submarine in February.

The 190-foot (38-metre) training vessel sank off the Hawaiian island of Oahu when the USS Greeneville surfaced beneath it during an emergency drill.

Earlier this week it was towed to 35-metre-deep (115-feet) shallows so divers could enter the vessel - part of a $60m US operation to find the bodies.

The first body was recovered on Tuesday and later identified as chief radio operator Hirotaka Segawa, 60. He had intended to retire at the end of the voyage.

The Navy had previously refused to give details about where exactly the body was found, for fears of raising false hopes among the Japanese families. The relatives of the victims know roughly whereabouts the men and boys would have been on the boat.

"The US Navy is committed to treating the families respectfully and honourably. We're committed to an honourable closure for those families," said Lieutenant Commander Neil Sheehan, the Navy's liaison officer for the Japanese families.

Japanese outcry

The US has promised Japan it will do its best to recover the bodies of the two teachers, four 17-year-old students and three crewmen from a fisheries high school in Uwajima, Japan. However, Navy officials have said they suspect up to four of the bodies may have been swept away.

Twenty-six people survived the sinking.

The sub's commander, Scott Waddle, has retired

There was a public outcry in Japan over the accident, especially when it emerged that the submarine's commander was performing an emergency surfacing drill for the a group of civilian guests. Commander Scott Waddle was reprimanded at a final hearing into the accident and forced to retire.

The search could take up to a month. After that the Ehime Maru will be taken more than 10km (six miles) out to sea and allowed to sink.