Divers search for Japanese victims

Divers have first been using cameras to search

US divers are continuing their search for the bodies of nine Japanese sailors and students who died when their fishing boat Ehime Maru was accidentally sunk by a US submarine in February.

Two bodies have been recovered, and a third one has been sighted, but the Navy has said it suspects up to four other bodies may have been swept away.

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

On Thursday, the Honolulu medical examiner used dental records to identify the second body found as 17-year-old Katzuya Nomoto. He died of drowning, said examiner Kanthi von Guenthner.

The body of chief radio operator Hirotaka Segawa, 60, was identified on Wednesday. He had intended to retire at the end of the voyage.

Reprimand

Lieutenant Commander Neil Sheehan, the Navy's liaison officer for the Japanese families said the goal was "to search for bodies as quickly as possible."

The sub's commander, Scott Waddle, has retired

He has refused to give details about where exactly the third 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 victims - two teachers, four 17-year-old students and three crewmen - were from a fisheries high school in Uwajima, Japan. Twenty-six people survived the sinking.

There was a public outcry in Japan over the accident, especially when it emerged that the submarine's commander was performing the surfacing drill for 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.