The minesweeper JS Ukushima, seen here in an undated photo, caught fire and ultimately sank on Nov. 11, 2024. (Japan's Ministry of Defense)
TOKYO — A joint U.S.-Japan naval drill has been canceled after a Japanese sailor went missing following a weekend fire aboard a minesweeper that eventually sank.
The U.S. and Japanese navies were scheduled to conduct minesweeping training between Saturday and Tuesday until the JS Ukushima caught fire Sunday and sank the following day. The ship’s crew was training en route to the joint exercise, a Maritime Self-Defense Force spokesman told Stars and Stripes by phone Tuesday.
The exercise was canceled due to the effort to find Petty Officer 3rd Class Tatsunori Koga, 33, who worked in the ship’s machine room, the command said in a news release.
Another sailor working in the same room was injured; the remaining 43 crew members evacuated safely, the spokesman said. It’s customary in Japan for some government officials to speak to the media without naming themselves.
The fire began around 9:45 a.m. Sunday in waters 1 ½ miles north of Oshima in Fukuoka prefecture, part of Kyushu, the southernmost of Japan’s four main islands. It was extinguished around midnight Monday, but the ship ultimately sank around 8:34 a.m., the spokesman said.
The Ukushima was built with a wooden hull, according to the spokesman.
The Maritime Self-Defense Force and the Japan coast guard were still searching for Koga on Tuesday afternoon.
The fire is believed to have begun in the machine room, where the ship’s diesel engines are located, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said during a Monday news conference.
“The Government of Japan will do its best to search for the missing personnel and take all possible measures to determine the cause and conduct preventative measures,” he said.
The Self-Defense Force has established a committee to investigate the cause of the fire, Hayashi said.
The U.S. 7th Fleet acknowledged an email from Stars and Stripes asking whether the U.S. would assist in the search or continue the drill. The command had not responded as of close of business Tuesday.
