Ten sailors are missing after a U.S. warship collided with an oil tanker east of Singapore on Monday, the U.S. Navy said, the second accident involving U.S. Navy destroyers in Asian waters in little more than two months.
The guided-missile destroyer USS John S. McCain collided with the merchant vessel Alnic MC while heading to Singapore for a routine port call, the Navy said in a statement.
"Initial reports indicate John S. McCain sustained damage to her port side aft," the Navy said. "There are currently 10 sailors missing and five injured."
A search-and-rescue mission was under way involving Singaporean ships, helicopters and tug boats, as well as U.S. Navy aircraft. Malaysian authorities said the collision happened in Malaysian waters in the South China Sea and that they were assisting in the search-and-rescue operation.
The warship was currently sailing under its own power and heading to port, the Navy said, without specifying which port.
The Alnic MC is a Liberian-flagged, 183 metre-long oil or chemical tanker of 50,760 deadweight tonnes, according to shipping data in Thomson Reuters Eikon.
Shipping data showed it last sent a transponder signal at 2258 GMT Sunday and had since come to a halt 10-20 km (6-12 miles) off the east coast of the Pengerang peninsula in Johor, southern Malaysia.
An Alnic crew member contacted later by Reuters by telephone said there was no oil spill from the tanker, which was carrying almost 12,00 tonnes of fuel oil from Taiwan to discharge in Singapore.
"We have not discharged the tanker yet," said the crew member, who asked not to be identified.
"We are proceeding to Raffles Reserved Anchorage, where the owners will investigate the matter. There was some damage to the valve but no oil spill."
The waterways around Singapore are some of the busiest and most important in the world, carrying around a third of global shipping trade.
SECOND COLLISION
The collision is the second involving a U.S. guided missile destroyer in the Pacific in nine weeks.
The U.S. Navy said last week it had removed the two senior officers and the senior enlisted sailor on the USS Fitzgerald, which almost sank off the coast of Japan after it was struck by a Philippine container ship early on June 17.
That collision killed seven U.S. sailors.
The USS Fitzgerald and USS John S. McCain are both ballistic missile defence (BMD) capable ships and part of the same Japan-based destroyer squadron. The Seventh Fleet has six ships assigned to BMD patrols, with half of those out on patrol at any one time.
Asked whether the U.S. Navy would need to bring forward other ships to maintain its strength, a spokesman for the Seventh Fleet said it was "way too early to know".
The series of maritime mishaps in Asian waters comes at a tense time in the region. North Korea threatened last week to fire ballistic missiles towards the U.S. Pacific territory of Guam, ratcheting up tensions with U.S. President Donald Trump, who had threatened to unleash "fire and fury" on Pyongyang if it threatened the United States.
The U.S. Navy vessel involved in the latest collision is named for the father and grandfather of U.S. Republican Senator John McCain, who were both admirals in the United States Navy.
"Cindy & I are keeping America's sailors aboard the USS John S McCain in our prayers tonight - appreciate the work of search & rescue crews," McCain said on Twitter.
Senator McCain is a Vietnam War-era naval pilot who was shot down and held prisoner for five-and-a-half years. He is now undergoing treatment for brain cancer.
Reuters
Mon Aug 21 2017
The USS John S. McCain approaches the aircraft carrier USS George Washington for a fueling at sea in this Dec 5, 2010 handout photo. U.S. Navy/Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Cheng S. Yang/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo
Seludup barang bersubsidi lebih aktif ketika Ramadan, Syawal
Antara barangan dirampas adalah minyak masak pelbagai jenama dan beras yang disyaki dibawa keluar untuk dijual di negara jiran.
JTKSM akan siasat isu aduan melibatkan pelanggaran undang-undang buruh
Jelas Menteri Sumber Manusia Steven Sim Chee Keong, piagam pelanggan JTKSM bagi menyiasat dan memaklumkan hasil setiap siasatan aduan adalah 21 hari bekerja daripada tempoh aduan.
Isu stoking: Pihak berkuasa digesa ambil tindakan tegas - Pemangku Sultan Johor
Tunku Mahkota Ismail Sultan Ibrahim bertitah, Kalimah Allah adalah kalimah suci yang sangat tinggi di hati umat Islam.
Wooi Yik akui Fajar-Rian beraksi lebih baik
Biarpun beberapa kali menukar taktikal permainan, namun Wooi Yik mengakui, pukulan balas berkualiti lawan menyukarkan mereka.
Model baharu GPT dilancar tahun ini - CEO OpenAI
Sam Altman berkata model baharu itu nanti akan menawarkan sesuatu yang jauh lebih baik berbanding GPT-4.
Skim baharu penstrukturan beras, padi negara akan diumumkan dalam tempoh terdekat
Jelas Menteri Pertanian dan Keterjaminan Makanan Datuk Seri Mohamad Sabu hal itu kerana pengeluaran beras putih tempatan hanya 62 peratus di negara ini dan 50 peratus sahaja diedarkan ke pasaran.
Telegram meraih dana AS$330 juta melalui jualan bon
CEO Telegram menyatakan permintaan bon Telegram adalah tinggi, dan ia telah dilanggan lebih tinggi berbanding sasaran.
Kadar bantuan kepada pesawah terjejas adalah RM876 per hektar
Menteri Pertanian dan Keterjaminan Makanan Datuk Seri Mohamad Sabu berkata pemberian bantuan kewangan kepada pesawah padi yang terjejas tertakluk pada penilaian yang dilakukan oleh Jawatankuasa Penilaian Teknikal Tabung Bencana Tanaman Padi
Indonesia cipta rekod buka puasa terpanjang di tepi pantai
Majlis berbuka puasa yang dianjurkan bersama oleh Kedutaan Arab Saudi dan pihak pemerintah Makassar serta Yayasan I-Salam.
Breaking Societal Norms & Harnessing Influence
In this first edition of the Merdeka Award Talk Series for 2024, Tan Sri Dr. Jemilah Mahmood, 2015 Merdeka Award Laureate and Puan Siti Hurrairah Sulaiman, Merdeka Award Trust Board of Trustee discuss the power dynamics of women in leadership, from societal pressures to leveraging influence behind closed doors.
Watch the full conversation on Merdeka Award YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0P30SNXAf-8]
#IWD24
#WomenEmpowerment #MATalkSeries #MerdekaAwardTalkSeries #AstroAWANI #MerdekaAward
Watch the full conversation on Merdeka Award YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0P30SNXAf-8]
#IWD24
#WomenEmpowerment #MATalkSeries #MerdekaAwardTalkSeries #AstroAWANI #MerdekaAward
Langgar belakang lori kontena, pemandu dan kelindan maut
Pemandu dan kelindan lori maut apabila kenderaan yang mereka naiki terlanggar belakang sebuah lori kontena yang rosak di Kilometer 294.4 Lebuhraya Utara Selatan arah utara di Gopeng, pagi Ahad.
Gopeng Ultra Trail: 170 sertai pencarian Mohammad Ashraf
Usaha mencari Mohammad Ashraf Hassan, 29, yang hilang ketika menyertai acara larian di Gopeng, Perak diperhebat setelah masuk hari keempat.
Pelajar Tingkatan Satu dirempuh kereta meninggal dunia
Pelajar tingkatan satu, Muhamad Nur Amier Ishak yang parah dirempuh kereta di susur jejambat Jalan Permatang Batu , Bukit Mertajam disahkan meninggal dunia kira kira jam 4.30 petang Isnin.
Six killed in Machang accident
Six people died while six others sustained multiple injuries in an accident involving two cars at Km 63, Jalan Kuala Krai-Kota Baharu near Kampung Bunut, Machang.
David Beckham, anak terlibat kemalangan kereta
Kemalangan berlaku tidak lama selepas Beckham mengambil anaknya Brooklyn dari pusat latihan Arsenal.
Malaysian students, teachers in bus crash near Perth
The crash in Perth Hills involved 13 students and eight adults from Malaysia and Indonesia. Three of them suffered broken limbs.