Malaysian Navy said Tuesday that an unidentified body was found in search for the missing crew of U.S. guided-missile destroyer USS John S. McCain, which collided with a tanker near the Straits of Malacca a day earlier.
Malaysian Navy said its vessel found a body 8 nautical miles northwest of the location of the collision in Tuesday afternoon.
"We cannot confirm the identification of the body," Malaysian Navy said in a statement. "The transferring of the body to the U.S. Navy will be done tomorrow."
U.S. Pacific fleet commander Scott Swift told a press conference in Singapore that Navy is in the process of identifying a body reported by Malaysia.
Zulkifili bin Abu Bakar, director general of Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) said search and rescue operation would continue after nightfall. More than 10 ships, boats and planes from MMEA, Malaysian Navy and other agencies are involved in the operations covering 352 square nautical miles in the sea and 488 square nautical miles from the air.
U.S. navy said 10 sailors are missing and five injured when the collision happened early Monday while the destroyer was transiting to a routine port visit in Singapore.
