TOKYO — The U.S. Navy 7th Fleet says two crew members, including the captain, have been evacuated from a Navy destroyer that collided with a merchant ship off the coast of Japan. Seven sailors are missing.
The Navy said in a statement that Cmdr. Bryce Benson, the ship’s commanding officer, was evacuated to the U.S. Naval Hospital in Yokosuka, home base of the 7th Fleet. It says he was in stable condition.
Details on the second injured person being evacuated were not immediately available.
Navy chief Adm. John Richardson says Navy, Japanese maritime defense vessels and the Japanese coast guard are working to stabilize the badly damaged ship.
