Page 2 - AT

A2 u.s. news
Tuesday 19 November 2019

‘Wall of water’: Lawsuits detail deadly Navy collision

By REBECCA SANTANA ships were trying to merge
Associated Press into heavy traffic. An un-
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Sur- derwater gash sent water
vivors and descendants of flooding into two sleeping
those killed when a con- compartments at a time
tainer ship collided with a when most of the nearly
U.S. Navy destroyer off Ja- 300 sailors on board would
pan’s coast are suing the have been sleeping.
ship’s Japanese charterer, Sailor Jackson Schrimsher
according to a lawsuit filed was one of the last to make
Monday that details the it out of the sleeping quar-
survivors’ scramble for safe- ters alive, according to the
ty as water rushed in. lawsuit. He recalled a “wall
In dramatic detail, the law- of water” coming at him as
suit against Tokyo-based he tried to make it to the
NYK Line lays out how sur- door — "scuttle” in Navy
vivors of the collision saw parlance.
water rushing at them as “He remembers a locker
they scrambled for the ex- falling over onto him and
its and, in some cases, had a Sailor pushing him out
to swim for their lives. Seven from under it. By the time
U.S. sailors were killed in the he reached the port-side
collision that happened scuttle, he was completely
June 17, 2017, as the two submerged. This July 11, 2017, file photo provided by the U.S. Navy shows the USS Fitzgerald in dry dock in
Yokosuka, Japan, for repairs and assessment of damage sustained from a June 17 collision with a
cargo ship in the waters off of Japan.
Associated Press
Plaintiff Schrimsher stuck his brave young men leave tial impact of the collision.
hand up out of the water behind children, parents, On the contrary, all dece-
through the scuttle, and spouses, and siblings who dent Sailors suffered from
was pulled to safety,” the continue to try to make a significant period of ex-
lawsuit said. sense of the senseless,” treme conscious pain and
The lawsuits allege person- Schloss said. suffering and pre-death
nel aboard the ACX Crystal A request for comment fright from the time of the
failed to follow procedures submitted on the compa- collision until their deaths
intended to warn their own ny’s website was not imme- by drowning,” the lawsuit
crew and nearby ships of diately returned. states.
impending danger. The two lawsuits were filed The collision was one of two
For example, the lawsuit Monday in federal court deadly accidents involving
says it wasn’t until one min- in Louisiana on behalf of American Navy personnel
ute before the collision that relatives of the seven dead that summer.
ACX Crystal operators took sailors and 40 sailors who On Aug. 21, the USS John S.
the ship off autopilot and survived as well as some McCain — a Navy destroy-
tried to evade a collision. family members of the sur- er — collided with a tanker
The ACX Crystal also failed vivors. The lawsuit is asking near Singapore. Ten sailors
to sound any short blasts to in excess of $287 million. aboard the McCain died.
alert the USS Fitzgerald of The lawsuit says NYK Line The Navy conducted a se-
its position, the lawsuit al- had “principal responsibil- ries of investigations and
leges. ity for the navigation and/ reviews into the two colli-
In a statement, David or operation of the ACX sions, concluding that the
Schloss, a lawyer for the Crystal.” accidents were the result
plaintiffs, said that the col- The lawsuit laid out the fear of poor judgment, bad
lision was “entirely avoid- and panic likely experi- decision-making and wide-
able.” enced by the seven sailors spread training and lead-
“The negligent and reck- who died as water flooded ership failures by the com-
less conduct of the Crys- into the sleeping compart- manders and crew who
tal's crew led to the horrific ment. didn't quickly recognize
drowning deaths of seven “None of the decedent and respond to unfolding
young Navy sailors. These Sailors were killed by the ini- emergencies.q