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Sub commander apologizes to families

In this story:

Expressions of regret

Apology 'sincere'

RELATED STORIES, SITES

TOKYO, Japan -- The commander of the U.S. submarine involved in a collision with a Japanese trawler has written to the families of the victims apologizing for the accident.

The letters from Commander Scott Waddle to the relatives of the nine people still missing after last month’s collision, were delivered to the Japanese consulate in the Hawaiian state capital, Honolulu Tuesday.

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Collision at sea

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• How a submarine works
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• Message board

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Recent incidents have strained US-Japanese relations

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Demonstration of a Navy submarine's emergency surface

Also included were letters to the Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori, the trawler’s captain, the governor of the prefecture from which the students came, and the principal of their School.

The nine victims, including four students, are missing presumed dead after the submarine U.S.S. Greeneville collided with and sank the Japanese training vessel, the Ehime Maru on February 9 off the coast of Hawaii.

It is thought their bodies may be trapped in the hull of the vessel, which is currently lying on the seabed in the waters off Hawaii.

26 others from the 55-meter (180-foot), 500-ton Japanese ship were pulled from life rafts soon after the collision.

Expressions of regret

Waddle has been the subject of growing criticism in Japan where his earlier expressions of regret over the incident have been interpreted as falling short of a formal apology.

His letters were delivered to Japanese Parliamentary Secretary Yoshio Mochizuki, in Honolulu for transportation to Japan. Mochizuki later told reporters that Waddle was crying as he handed them over.

On Wednesday the special U.S. Navy envoy, Admiral William J. Fallon, met with relatives of the trawler victims and offered his personal apology for the incident.

"I'm here to request in the most humble and sincere manner that you accept the apology of the people of the United States and the U.S. Navy as a personal representative of President Bush," he told the families.

The meeting in the U.S. ambassador's residence in Tokyo was meant to quell growing Japanese anger over the accident, the U.S. failure to make appropriate apologies and the slow pace of investigations.

The Admiral said he plans to travel to Iwojima Thursday, the hometown of the missing students for further meetings with relatives and town officials.

Earlier Fallon, the Navy's number two man in Washington, delivered a letter of apology from the U.S. president to Prime Minister Mori.

He also briefed him on details of the ongoing investigation and the Navy Court of Inquiry slated for March 5.

The White House said Bush’s letter was a sign of the importance placed on its relations with Japan by the U.S., keen to ease tensions between the two countries.

Security ties between the two were strained prior to the accident by a series of crimes committed by U.S. servicemen on Okinawa.

Apology 'sincere'

Fallon's apology appeared to be well received in Japan.

"I felt the envoy was sincere, and it was the most satisfying meeting we have had yet," said Ryosuke Terata, father of one of the missing victims.

However, he said the families would also like to hear apologies from the sailors in the submarine responsible for the accident.

Apologies are considered vital in Japanese society, where they are seen as a display of the sense of shame at the trouble caused.

During their meeting with Admiral Fallon the families of the victims also reiterated their request that the trawler be raised from the ocean floor so they can recover the bodies of their loved ones.

"Traditional Japanese are very much concerned to have some remains or anything associated with the dead," said anthropologist Teigo Yoshida. "They would be satisfied if they can say 'good-bye.'"

Fallon said Washington was "politically committed" to raising the vessel but could say nothing more concrete until after the completion of a feasibility study around March 8.

Salvage experts say raising the Ehime Maru will be a difficult task given the depths at which it lies -- more than 600 meters (1,900 ft) below sea level.

Tokyo Bureau Chief Marina Kamimura, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.