Search-and-rescue crews found three life rings in waters to the northeast of Crooked Island in the Bahamas, about 75 miles (120 km) from the ship’s last known position before it went missing, the Coast Guard said on Sunday. Authorities lost contact with the El Faro early Thursday as the ship sailed through the Bahamas at the height of the Hurricane Joaquin storm as it sailed from its homeport in Jacksonville, Fla., to San Juan, Puerto Rico. It has not been retrieved.
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The 790-foot El Faro was reported disabled Thursday morning after the captain signaled the ship was taking on water, had lost propulsion and was listing at 15 degrees.
The Herald reports that the Coast Guard on Friday repeatedly flew a C-130 through the storm looking for the El Faro, the missing vehicle carrier, which was in an area of 20 to 30-foot waves.
Doss said swells in the search area had decreased “by quite a bit” Sunday, allowing the Coast Guard to dispatch one of its cutters.
The find was reportedly made by the El Yunque and a tug boat hired by TOTE to look for their missing sister ship.
The crew consists of 28 US citizens and five Polish nationals. They resumed the effort early Saturday, concentrating around Crooked Island and Long Island. On Saturday, Joaquin strengthened back to a Category 4, but distanced itself from the search area.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said that elevated water levels and big waves from Joaquin will affect the USA mid-Atlantic region, “causing significant beach and dune erosion with moderate coastal flooding likely”.
Joaquin battered the central Bahamas archipelago for more than two days with 130 mile-per-hour (210 km-per-hour) winds, a potentially catastrophic Category 4 hurricane on a scale of 1 to 5.
“We still don’t have communication with the ship and we don’t even know if the debris field is from the ship”, said Nash, a Coast Guard spokesman.
While Joaquin has continued to shift away from the U.S. East Coast, unsafe flooding triggered by heavy rainfall was expected across much of the Carolinas and parts of Georgia, Virginia and New Jersey this weekend, USA forecasters said.
TOTE Maritime Puerto Rico said in a statement that it authorized the sailing “knowing that the crew are more than equipped to handle situations such as changing weather”. Jon-Paul Rios said the life ring discovery shows that search crews are in the right vicinity, and it could be that the life ring simply blew off the ship during the storm.
As more floating debris was spotted Sunday, the company said its “thoughts and prayers remain with the 33 individuals aboard the ship and their families”.
The Coast Guard said it would hold a briefing at 10 a.m. Monday to provide the latest on the search for El Faro.
As the threat of the storm receded on a path that would take it away from the US mainland, people in the southeastern Bahamas were in cleanup mode.
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She said that his current posting was the first time for him to be on the El Faro.
