The Maritime Self-Defense Force canceled all drills nationwide Thursday to re-educate personnel in the hope of heading off further collisions like the one last week in which a destroyer ran over a trawler, claiming the lives of its father-son crew, Maritime Staff Office officials said.

The two-day retraining program covers all personnel of surface vessels, submarines and aircraft, as well as those at the five regional units based in Ominato, Aomori Prefecture; Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture; Maizuru, Kyoto Prefecture; Kure, Hiroshima Prefecture; and Sasebo, Nagasaki Prefecture, the officials said. Staff on routine duties are exempt.

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