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[h=4]Search continues for cargo ship missing in Hurricane Joaquin[/h]The U.S. Coast Guard continued searching Saturday for a cargo ship that went missing near the Bahamas with 33 crewmembers aboard after it was caught in Hurricane Joaquin and began taking on water.
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The Coast Guard is pulling out the stops in searching for a freighter with 33 crew members that's gone missing near the center of Hurricane Joaquin. Officials say the ship went out of radio contact near the eye of the storm. (Oct. 2) AP
A TU file photo of El Faro(Photo: Florida Times-Union)
The U.S. Coast Guard continued searching Saturday for a cargo ship that went missing near<span style="color: Red;">*</span>the Bahamas<span style="color: Red;">*</span>with 33 crewmembers aboard, hoping to get closer to the vessel's last known location after<span style="color: Red;">*</span>it was caught in Hurricane Joaquin.
The 790-foot<span style="color: Red;">*</span>El Faro was reported disabled Thursday morning after the<span style="color: Red;">*</span>captain<span style="color: Red;">*</span>signaled the ship was taking on water, had lost<span style="color: Red;">*</span>propulsion and was listing at 15 degrees. There has been no contact from the ship since.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>The crew is made up of 28 Americans and five Polish nationals.
"It delivered a single-burst transmission and then did not deliver any more transmissions after that," said Phil Green, an executive with TOTE Maritime, which owns the vessel.
On Friday, the Coast Guard said the area where the ship was located was near the eye of the Category 4 storm where winds were up to 140 mph at the time with waves 20 to 30 feet high.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>The ship was loaded with 391 containers on its deck and carried 293 cars, trucks and trailers below. Such a cargo load can aggravate any listing of the ship.
USA TODAY
Heavy rain pounds Charleston as Joaquin moves away from East Coast
With the massive storm finally shifting slowly northeast and away from the Bahamas, a search team<span style="color: Red;">*</span>in a C-130 aircraft were hoping to fly closer to the emergency signal that reported the ship's last location.
"(Friday) they were trying to get there,"<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Coast Guard Petty Officer Jon-Paul Rios said Saturday. "The last known location for these guys, think about it, was pretty much the eye of the hurricane. So yesterday what we were doing was taking our<span style="color: Red;">*</span>C-130s, getting them as close as they could, essentially pushing the operational limit ... and then we would dip down below the clouds and try to make call-outs to see if we could hail them on radios. Unfortunately we weren't able to."
Rios said the hope Saturday was "to get closer to the position that they were trying to search yesterday, seeing as how the storm has shifted a little bit."
The ship tracker provided by marinetraffic.com<span style="color: Red;">*</span>(Photo: marinetraffic.com/Google Maps)
The ship, built in 1975,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>was en route from Jacksonville, Fla., to its home port of San Juan, Puerto Rico, where it was to arrive late Friday. The crew had initially reported Thursday that waters flooding into the vessel had been contained, the Coast Guard said.
Families were angry Friday that the vessel was not diverted from a course taking it near<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Joaquin.
"Normally my husband tells me that they have a different route that they take to go around the storm," said Rochelle Hamm, whose husband, Frank, is a crew member. "I don't know why they didn't steer the<span style="color: Red;">*</span>ship in a different direction. This is totally unacceptable."
TOTE executives said the El Faro captain had charted a course aimed at passing well in front of Joaquin.
"I'm very hopeful and until they find a reason for me not to be, I am going to remain hopeful," said Terri Davis, whose husband, Larry, is a member of the crew.
Before resuming effort Saturday, the Coast Guard had already searched an area<span style="color: Red;">*</span>encompassing<span style="color: Red;">*</span>850 square miles.
Contributing: Jacob Rodriguez, First Coast News
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