Body of second missing US sailor found

US Marine Corps divers have recovered the body of a second sailor who went missing with eight others after an American destroyer collided with an oil tanker near Singapore, officials said on Friday.

The body was found late Thursday inside the flooded destroyer USS John S. McCain, which is anchored at Singapore's Changi Naval Base, according to a statement released by the US 7th Fleet, Efe news reports.

The body, identified as that of Dustin Louis Doyon, 26, was found hours after divers recovered the corpse inside the destroyer, which was identified as that of the 22-year-old Kenneth Aaron Smith.

Another eight sailors are still missing following the accident which occurred on Monday in the Singapore Strait.

US and Singapore authorities on Thursday suspended the maritime search-and-rescue operation, which had included ships, helicopters and maritime patrol aircraft from Malaysia, Indonesia and Australia.

The collision between the US destroyer and the ALNIC MC, the oil tanker weighing more than 30,000 tonnes and sailing under the Liberian flag, on Monday also left five US sailors injured.

The accident did not cause any spill although the tanker was carrying about 12,000 tonnes of fuel from Taiwan to Singapore.

--IANS

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