The bodies of a number of US sailors have been found in flooded compartments of a US Navy destroyer which had its side stoved in during a collision with a cargo ship off the coast of Japan.
The sailors were missing for more than 24 hours after the USS Fitzgerald collided with a much larger container ship before dawn on Saturday, causing heavy damage and flooding areas of the destroyer.
The reports then said that some of the U.S. personnel were injured and at least seven sailors were missing.
The seven sailors reported missing after their ship was hit by a merchant vessel, were located on June 17, 2017.
According to the Navy, a Japanese coast guard helicopter was helping evacuate the injured, and Japanese state broadcaster NHK showed video of an apparently injured person being lifted aboard a coast guard helicopter from the ship.
Search and rescue workers found the bodies inside the USS Fitzgerald after it returned to port at the Yokosuka Naval Base south of Tokyo.
Japan's coast guard officials said the sea and air search was still continuing at the site of the collision, 56 nautical miles (103 kilometers) southwest of Yokosuka, home to the 7th Fleet.
Initially, five sailors were reported injured and seven sailors were reported missing, though the remains of those sailors have since been found.
The Navy said that the families were being notified and provided the support they need during "this hard time".
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Family members were frantically seeking news, appealing via social media for calls from sailors aboard from the ship as it slowly made its way to its home base.
NYK and the ship's owner are cooperating a Japan Coast Guard investigation into the collision, the shipping firm said.
"This has been a hard day", Vice Adm. Joseph P. Aucoin, the commander of the 7th Fleet. "Thank you to our Japanese allies for their assistance", US President Donald Trump tweeted.
"The ship is being ported back to Tokyo Bay and all crew have been instructed to remain onboard pending their interview by Japanese authorities later today", added the DFA in Manila. Three aboard the destroyer were treated at the US Naval Hospital, including ship Commander Bryce Benson.
According to the Navy, the Fitzgerald is "one of eight destroyers that is "forward-deployed to Yokosuka, Japan, supporting security and stability in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region".
It was questioning crew members of the ACX Crystal, which is operated by the Japanese shipping company Nippon Yusen KK, and is treating the incident as a case of possible professional negligence, said Masayuki Obara, a regional coast guard official.
The Navy ship's starboard side was heavily damaged in the collision, but the vessel later managed to slowly return to its base in Yokosuka, with the assistance of United States navy tug boats.
It was unclear how the collision happened.
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