Coast Guard: Missing cargo ship sank; 1 body, empty lifeboat found

MIAMI _ The cargo ship that disappeared in a hurricane off the Bahamas sank, the Coast Guard reported Monday morning.tmpplchld One body was found Sunday night, as well as a 43-seat lifeboat with no one aboard. The body’s remains were in a “survival suit” _ which helps crew members float and avoid hypothermia _ and could not be recovered. The badly damaged lifeboat was one of two carried by the steamship. The other is still missing.tmpplchld Despite the grim conclusion, the search will continue _ for possible survivors, but not the ship itself.tmpplchld “We’ve modified our search efforts to search for potential people in the water and in life boats,” said Capt. Mark Fedor, the coast guard’s seventh district chief of response, at a briefing on Monday morning in Opa-locka.tmpplchld The El Faro, a 790-foot container ship, experienced a power failure during Hurricane Joaquin’s high winds and heavy seas last week and ultimately sank.tmpplchld Earlier, a container, pieces of another container and a life ring from the El Faro were recovered. An oil sheen was also spotted.tmpplchld The search crews spotted so much Styrofoam, a common packing material in cargo containers, floating on the water a pilot said it looked like a “golf course, a driving range” said Petty officer first class David Schuhlein, a Coast Guard spokesman.tmpplchld On Friday, the search and rescue aircraft dispatched to find the El Faro encountered wind so violent that panels were torn from the plane, Schuhlein said. The craft flew low, sandwiched about 500 feet between the water and storm clouds above.tmpplchld “We fly very low,” he said. “It is very dangerous.”tmpplchld The El Faro, packed with 391 containers above deck and 294 below, sank in an area with water that runs 15,000 feet deep. Below deck the containers were filled with heavy cars and trailers.tmpplchld The ship departed from Jacksonville on Tuesday when Joaquin was still a tropical storm. The American-flagged El Faro, which means “The Lighthouse” in Spanish, was headed to Puerto Rico. Aboard the ship was a crew of 28 Americans and five from Poland. It was due to arrive in San Juan on Friday.tmpplchld Joaquin developed into a Category 4 storm with sustained winds of at least 130 mph beginning Thursday afternoon through Friday afternoon. Thursday, the El Faro reported losing power and taking on water. The added water weight caused the ship to list 15 degrees to the side.tmpplchld Buffeted by 100 knots per hour winds, the powerless ship drifted in between 50 foot swells.tmpplchld “If you have no means to move that vessel, you fall into the trough,” Fedor said.tmpplchld The trough between waves is a dangerous spot for ships, even huge ones. The waves hit the ship sideways, destabilizing it further. The possibly top heavy ship most likely succumbed to the hurricane conditions. What happened to the 33-member crew is unknown, but Fedor said a person could last four to five days in the 85-degree water.tmpplchld “These are trained mariners,” he said. “We’re not going to discount someone’s will to survive.”tmpplchld The storm lost some punch before regaining Category 4 wind speeds on Saturday morning through about dawn on Sunday. The storm swept across a large area of the Bahamas, and its eye passed over Samana Cay in the southeast portion of the island chain.tmpplchld Nash said Coast Guard crews have found other items in their search. A total of six vessels and a “schedule of aircraft” have been searching for the El Faro, including three salvage tugs from TOTE Maritime Puerto Rico, which owns the ship. So far, the group has covered 70,000 square nautical miles.tmpplchld The aircraft will conclude their search at the end of the day, but the ships will search all night long.tmpplchld The search began in the last known location of the El Faro near Crooked Island, which is about 270 miles southeast of Nassau. Debris and other materials were found 60 miles north of the last known location, and Fedor said the search effort will concentrate on these two areas.tmpplchld There will be an investigation on the incident led by the National Transportation Safety Board and aided by the Coast Guard. Fedor said the Coast Guard will likely launch an independent investigation as well.tmpplchld tmpplchld ___tmpplchld (c)2015 Miami Heraldtmpplchld Visit Miami Herald at www.miamiherald.comtmpplchld Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.tmpplchld