Relatives See Video Of Sunken Trawler

The U.S. Navy on Sunday showed relatives of the nine missing people from a Japanese trawler sunk by a surfacing American submarine a video of the wreck, but there were no signs of remains. The video, taken by a deep-diving robot that located the Ehime Maru on the ocean floor, showed a ghostly pale ship against the black emptiness of the deep, but nothing else. The Ehime Maru, which was struck by the USS Greeneville as the fast-attack submarine made an emergency surfacing maneuver on Feb. 9, was sitting nearly upright on the ocean floor about 9 miles (14 km) off Diamond head on Oahu. The Navy's remotely operated submersible Scorpio II located the Ehime Maru late in about 2,000 ft. (610 m) of water off the coast of Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean. "The families saw a 35-minute video that consisted of surface video of the Scorpio going down as well as undersea footage," said Jon Yoshishige, a spokesman for the Navy's U.S. Pacific Fleet. The missing -- four students, two teachers and three crew members -- were among 26 people on board the vessel at the time of the accident. U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld met with Japanese Senior Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Seishiro Eto on Friday as the Bush administration sought to assuage Japanese anger and avoid a further deterioration of relations between the two countries over the incident. Yoshishige said Scorpio was back in port on Sunday because it was having hydraulic problems. Another submersible, Deep Drone, was out at the site and participating in a sonar survey of the seabed around the Ehime Maru. The Navy wants to map any debris that settled nearby. The Navy said on Saturday it would convene the highest form of administrative investigation this week to determine whether disciplinary action should be taken against three officers from the U.S. submarine. Adm. Thomas Fargo, commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, said the Greeneville's captain, Cmdr. Scott Waddle, executive officer, Lt. Cmdr. Gerald Pfeifer, and officer of the deck, Lt. Michael J. Coen, would face a court of inquiry at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on Thursday. Waddle was relieved of his command after the accident. The court could make a range of recommendations, from a letter of reprimand to a trial by court-martial. The court will include three U.S. officers, and Japan will be invited to send an officer to participate as an adviser. Fargo said he had completed a review of the preliminary investigation into the collision but would not release that information. He said the court of inquiry, however, would be open to the public. It would also allow investigators to subpoena civilians. Fargo on Saturday released the names of 16 civilians who were on board the Greeneville when the accident occurred. The Navy has confirmed that two of the civilians were at control positions at the time of the crash, news that sparked outrage in Japan and increased anti-American sentiment there. The Navy said last week that nothing so far indicated the presence of the civilians on the submarine or at the controls contributed to the accident. The National Transportation Safety Board is conducting its own investigation into the collision. President George W. Bush on Thursday ordered a review of all policies on civilian activity during military exercises. - (Reuters)