The US Navy on Monday identified all seven sailors killed after their destroyer collided with a container ship off Japan's coast at the weekend, confirming their deaths for the first time.

"The remains of seven sailors previously reported missing were located in flooded berthing compartments, after divers gained access to the spaces...that were damaged when the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Fitzgerald (DDG 62) was involved in a collision with the Philippine-flagged merchant vessel ACX Crystal," it said in a statement.