1 Dead, 7 Missing as Ship Sinks in Icy Atlantic

Rescuers plucked four seamen from the stormy Atlantic after their 250-foot cargo ship sank, but one died and seven others were missing today, including a crewman who slipped through his life jacket, authorities said.

An aircraft flying over the area spotted one of the men on a life raft, but rescuers found the raft empty when they reached it. Rescuers later spotted another man in the water, but they were unsure whether he was alive.

The rescue effort was hampered by heavy rains, 40- to 45-m.p.h. winds and 20- to 25-foot seas, the Coast Guard said.

The 11-member crew abandoned the Lloyd Bermuda in two rafts after the ship’s load shifted during the storm Wednesday night, said Coast Guard Lt. (j.g.) Jonathan Trumble. The ship sank about 160 miles south of Nantucket and 200 miles east of New Jersey, Trumble said.

The captain sent a distress signal at 7:10 p.m. A merchant vessel, the Eagle, which was nearest to the Lloyd Bermuda when it went down, was guided to one of the rafts by a Coast Guard plane, said Coast Guard Lt. Paul Wolf.

Third Lost in Attempt

Two Lloyd Bermuda crew members were pulled aboard the Eagle about 1:45 a.m. today, but a third was lost at sea during a rescue attempt, he said.

“In the process of trying to get the third guy on board, he slipped through the life jacket and back into the water and they can’t see him now,” he said.

About 4 a.m., Coast Guard frogmen jumped from a helicopter and saved two men who were drifting without rafts in the water.

They were taken by helicopter to Falmouth Hospital, where nursing supervisor Kathy Correia said one was dead on arrival, apparently of hypothermia. The other, identified as Dario Macio-Lopez, 35, was in fair condition in the intensive care unit.

Rescuers saw another man in the water but could not reach him because of rough seas.