Japan's PM meets relatives of submarine victims

Japan’s prime minister Yoshiro Mori visited the site of the collision between the submarine USS Greenville and the Ehime Maru to pray for the nine Japanese victims.

Four relatives accompanied Mori on Tuesday and threw flowers into the water from their boat off Hawaii as the prime minister silently looked on.

The relatives were four of the 10 family members in Hawaii to attend the Navy court of inquiry investigating the February 9 accident.

As four "hookipu" bouquets wrapped in lush green Ti leaves hit the water, colourful flowers emerged from inside and floated out to the ocean.

"I felt a big lump of sorrow rising up to my throat," Mori said in a statement. "I renewed my pledge to materialise the raising of the Ehime Maru as soon as possible."

Mori arrived in Honolulu early Tuesday after meeting US President George W. Bush in Washington. As well as the submarine accident, the two leaders discussed economics, security and other bilateral issues.

During his three-hour boat ride on Tuesday, Mori told the relatives that Bush promised to help speed up plans to salvage the Ehime Maru from the ocean bed, and to secure compensation for the victims.

On Tuesday, the court of inquiry wrapped up its two-and-a-half-week session with Cmdr Scott Waddle, the submarine’s captain.

The USS Greenville rammed into the Ehime Maru, leaving nine people presumed dead. Twenty-six others aboard the Japanese vessel survived.

Mori later laid a wreath at the Hawaii national cemetery in memory of the war dead before returning to Japan.