SINGAPORE, Sept. 28 (Xinhua) -- It would take about a year for investigators to find out the cause of the collision between the USS Destroyer John S. McCain and a Liberian-registered oil tanker last month, local media quoted Singapore's Transport Safety Investigation Bureau (TSIB) as saying on Thursday.
TSIB said it is looking into all circumstances leading up to the collision, which claimed the lives of 10 U.S. sailors. It has conducted interviews and obtained information from the tanker, Alnic MC, and its crew, as well as ships travelling near where the incident happened, the Strait Times reported.
TSIB added that it has reviewed the recordings of the Maritime and Port Authority's Vessel Traffic Information System, but did not detect any Automatic Identification System (AIS) signal from the U.S. warship.
Under the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, mandatory carriage of AIS does not apply to ships of war and troop ships, according to TSIB.
The collision, the fourth involving U.S. Navy vessels over the past year, has sparkled a change of leadership in the U.S. Seventh Fleet, which is headquartered in Yokosuka, Japan and operates roughly 50 to 70 ships and submarines, 140 aircraft, and approximately 20,000 sailors.
