Remains of All Missing US Sailors Recovered after USS McCain Collision

The US Navy guided-missile destroyer USS John S. McCain is seen after a collision, in Singapore waters August 21, 2017. REUTERS/Ahmad Masood
The US Navy guided-missile destroyer USS John S. McCain is seen after a collision, in Singapore waters August 21, 2017. REUTERS/Ahmad Masood
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Remains of All Missing US Sailors Recovered after USS McCain Collision

The US Navy guided-missile destroyer USS John S. McCain is seen after a collision, in Singapore waters August 21, 2017. REUTERS/Ahmad Masood
The US Navy guided-missile destroyer USS John S. McCain is seen after a collision, in Singapore waters August 21, 2017. REUTERS/Ahmad Masood

Divers have recovered the remains of all 10 US sailors killed after their warship John S. McCain collided with an oil tanker off Singapore, the US Navy said Monday.

The remaining eight sailors were retrieved by divers searching flooded compartments of the guided-missile destroyer, it said, after the discovery of two bodies was announced last week.

John S. McCain collided with the Alnic MC east of Singapore as it headed for a routine stop in the city-state last Monday last week, leaving a gaping hole in the vessel's hull and flooding it with water.

It was the second such deadly accident in two months after a US destroyer collided with a cargo ship off Japan in June, and the fourth accident involving an American warship in the Pacific this year.

The US Navy's Seventh Fleet, to which the warship belonged, said in a statement that "divers have now recovered the remains of all 10 USS John S. McCain sailors.”

The sailors were aged between 20 and 39.

"The incident is under investigation to determine the facts and circumstances of the collision," the statement added.

The pre-dawn collision sparked a multinational search and rescue operation by aircraft, divers and vessels off Singapore but it was called off after several days, and authorities shifted their focus to flooded parts of the ship.

The accident prompted the navy to begin a global investigation and remove the commander of the Japan-headquartered Seventh Fleet, the centerpiece of the US military presence in Asia.

The Seventh Fleet, headquartered in Japan, operates as many as 70 ships, including the US navy's only forward-deployed aircraft carrier, and has about 140 aircraft and 20,000 sailors.



Greece Blocks Asylum Claims for Migrants on Crete after Surge in Arrivals

Migrants get off a bus at the port of Heraklion, Crete, Greece, 08 July 2025. EPA/NIKOS CHALKIADAKIS
Migrants get off a bus at the port of Heraklion, Crete, Greece, 08 July 2025. EPA/NIKOS CHALKIADAKIS
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Greece Blocks Asylum Claims for Migrants on Crete after Surge in Arrivals

Migrants get off a bus at the port of Heraklion, Crete, Greece, 08 July 2025. EPA/NIKOS CHALKIADAKIS
Migrants get off a bus at the port of Heraklion, Crete, Greece, 08 July 2025. EPA/NIKOS CHALKIADAKIS

Greece's government said Wednesday it is temporarily suspending asylum applications for migrants arriving on the island of Crete, following a spike in arrivals from Libya.

More than 2,000 migrants have landed on the island since the weekend, according to coast guard figures, bringing the total number of arrivals this year to over 10,000.

Speaking in parliament, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said the government also planned to build a detention site on Crete for migrants and was seeking direct collaboration between the Libya and Greek coast guards to turn back boats leaving the North African country.

“This emergency situation clearly demands emergency measures,” Mitsotakis told parliament Wednesday. “The Greek government has decided to inform the European Commission that ... it will suspend the processing of asylum applications — for an initial period of three months — for those arriving by sea from North Africa.”

According to The Associated Press, the suspension will apply only to migrants reaching Crete by sea. Migrants entering illegally will be detained, Mitsotakis said. “The Greek government is sending a firm message: the route to Greece is closing, and that message is directed at all human traffickers,” he said.

Overnight, a fishing trawler carrying 520 migrants from Libya was intercepted south of Crete. A bulk carrier that took all of the migrants onboard was rerouted to the port of Lavrio, near Athens, so that the migrants could be detained on a mainland facility, authorities said.