The search for a US cargo ship that was lost during Hurricane Joaquin off the southeastern Bahamas has turned up more clues but no word yet on the fate of the vessel or its 33-member crew.
The fourth-day of searching across a wide expanse of the Atlantic Ocean near Crooked Island yesterday for the 790-foot El Faro turned up more life rings and a container from the ship, as well as an oil sheen that may have come from it, the US Coast Guard said. It was not enough, however, to establish what happened when the vessel lost power and communications as Joaquin raged as a powerful Category 4 hurricane.
The search was aided by the first day of calmer weather now that Joaquin has left the Bahamas and was en route to Bermuda. Several Coast Guard ships were joining effort that until now had been conducted primarily by air.
Petty Officer John-Paul Rios, a Coast Guard spokesman, said a new area of focus was a debris field spread across 583 sq kilometers near Samana Cay, but it hadn't been determined whether it was from the El Faro, which was sailing from Jacksonville, Florida, to San Juan, Puerto Rico when authorities lost track of it Thursday.
Family members of the crew said they were trying to remain optimistic, but were also clearly in agony as they anxiously awaited word of any developments at the Seafarer's International Union hall in Jacksonville. Some sobbed and hugged each other.
"This is torture," Mary Shevory, mother of crew member Mariette Wright. Shevory, who had come to the Seafarer's Union Hall in Jacksonville from her home in Massachusetts, said her 51-year-old daughter was devoted to her job working on the ship.
"I'm just praying to God they find the ship and bring my daughter and everyone on it home," she said.
Laurie Bobillot, whose daughter, Danielle Randolph, is a second mate on the El Faro, said yesterday that day she was trying not to lose hope after nearly four days anxiously waiting for news of the ship from its owner, TOTE Maritime Puerto Rico.
"We've got to stay positive," said Bobillot, of Rockland, Maine. "These kids are trained. Every week they have abandon ship drills."
The El Faro departed from Jacksonville, Florida on Sept. 29, when Joaquin was still a tropical storm, with 28 crew members from the United States and five from Poland. The ship was heading to Puerto Rico on a regular cargo supply run to the US island territory when it ran into trouble. It was being battered by winds of more than 130 mph and waves of up to 30 feet (9 meters).
The crew reported that the ship had lost power, had taken on water and was listing 15 degrees but that the situation was "manageable," in their last communication on Thursday morning, TOTE Maritime Puerto Rico, said. They have not been heard from since.
