'Body found in Malaysia not missing American sailor's'

The US Pacific Fleet on Thursday ruled out a body found by the Malaysian authorities as being one of the 10 missing sailors of an American destroyer that had collided with an oil tanker near Singapore earlier this week.

The authorities found the body on Tuesday during rescue operations near the Singapore Strait, the site of the accident, and handed it over to the US Navy on the same day, reports Efe news.

The US 7th Fleet said the medical examination of the remains revealed that it did not belong to a missing sailor of the USS John S. McCain and the body will be returned to Malaysia, according to a statement released by the Fleet here.

The US Navy also said that more Marine Corps divers have arrived in Singapore to help with the search of the insides of the destroyer, which is anchored at Singapore's Changi Naval Base.

Meanwhile, search and rescue operations are continuing over an area of approximately 3,000 sq.km. around the site of the collision.

Two navy ships and a helicopter from Indonesia and an Australian maritime patrol aircraft joined Singaporean and Malaysian ships in the operations.

The accident between the US destroyer and the ALNIC MC, a oil tanker weighing more than 30,000 tones and sailing under the Liberian flag, on Monday also injured five persons.

--IANS

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