Body found after USS John S McCain collision is not one of missing US sailors

15:38, UK, Thursday 24 August 2017

The Malaysian navy is helping the search for the missing US sailors

A body found at sea following a collision between a US destroyer and an oil tanker is not one of 10 missing American sailors, the US navy has said.

The Malaysian navy found the remains earlier this week after the USS John S McCain crashed into the tanker off Singapore.

The body has been medically examined and will be returned to Malaysian authorities, a statement from the US navy's Asia-based 7th Fleet said.

Officials also announced on Thursday a search at sea for the missing sailors has been called off.

It brings to an end the 80-hour inspection of a 2,100-square mile (5,400-square km) stretch of water east of Singapore.

Marine Corps divers will continue to search for the missing sailors in flooded compartments of the McCain, which is now docked in the southeast Asian city-state.

Some remains have already been found in one of the ships compartments, with the US navy confirming the identity of one body as Kenneth Aaron Smith, a 22-year-old electronics technician from New Jersey.

See the damage to the US destroyer

The navies of Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Australia had been helping search the seas east of Singapore, where the collision happened on Monday.

The commander of the 7th Fleet, Vice Admiral Joseph Aucoin, a three-star admiral, has been dismissed in the wake of the collision

It was the fourth major incident in the US Pacific Fleet this year.

In June, seven sailors died when the destroyer USS Fitzgerald collided with a container ship off Japan.

In lesser incidents, the USS Lake Champlain had a minor collision with a South Korean fishing boat in May, while in April the USS Antietam ran aground near the 7th Fleet's home port in Yokosuka, Japan.

Damage to the McCain's port side following the collision. Pic: US Navy

Adjunct law professor at Fordham University, and retired Navy officer, Lawrence Brennan, called Vice Admiral Aucoin's dismissal "an unprecedented peacetime move".

His successor, Vice Admiral Phillip Sawyer, has thanked regional navies for helping in the search.

"It is a brutal reminder that what we do is dangerous work in an unforgiving environment, requiring honed skills and constant vigilance," he said.

"And even with those, bad things can happen."

An operational pause has been ordered by the US navy worldwide to give its fleets time to assess safety.