HONOLULU (AP) — The U.S. Pacific Command has paid $11,000 so far in hospital bills for 17 people rescued after a U.S. Navy submarine sank their Japanese fishing boat.
"The U.S. government has been committed from Day One to pay all medical expenses," Lt. Col. Dewey Ford, deputy chief of public affairs, said Wednesday. "We've made arrangements to have all bills sent to us and anything outstanding will be paid."
Thirty-five people were aboard the Ehime Maru on Feb. 9 when the USS Greeneville surfaced underneath it, nine miles south of Waikiki. Nine students, teachers and crew members are still missing and presumed dead.