Trawler captain describes 'terrifying minutes'

The captain of a fishing boat which sank when a US submarine smashed into it, has described the last terrifying minutes before the ship sank.

A massive search is being conducted for nine people still missing from the 180ft Ehime Maru, which split open and sank in 1,800ft of water on Friday, 10 minutes after the submarine surfaced under it.

Twenty-six crew members and teenage students were rescued.

"The ship went down without tilting, almost straight down," Hisao Onishi, captain of the vessel, said. "We couldn't get the life rafts out and we were washed into the sea."

Onishi expressed anguish over the nine people who are still missing and disbelief at how long it took for the 26 survivors to be rescued after their boat was struck.

"We did our best to find other survivors," Onishi said. "We just couldn't find the nine missing."

Coastguard rescue teams are continuing to search the waters for three crew members, two teachers and four students from Uwajima Fisheries High School in southwestern Japan.