Ship Caught by Hurricane Joaquin Still Missing

Life jackets, life rings and containers have been found in Caribbean waters, but the whereabouts of the El Faro and its 33 crewmembers remained a mystery Sunday night.

The 735-foot container ship was headed to San Juan, Puerto Rico, from Jacksonville when it became caught in the fury of Hurricane Joaquin near Crooked Island in the Bahamas, the U.S. Coast Guard reported. Watchstanders at the Coast Guard’s Atlantic Area command center in Portsmouth, Va., received the ship’s distress call around 7:30 a.m. Thursday. At that time, crew members said the ship had lost propulsion and had a 15-degree list.

“The crew reported the ship had previously taken on water, but that all flooding had been contained,” the Coast Guard wrote in a media release.

The distress call prompted a search and rescue mission that continued on Sunday. As of Sunday evening, the Coast Guard reported it was still searching the Caribbean Sea for the missing ship. Rescue crews had covered more than 70,000 square nautical miles in their search as of Sunday evening. While guard members have found life jackets, rings, containers and an oil sheen within a 225 square nautical mile area, the ship itself has not been located. It has not yet been confirmed for certain, however, if the items found do indeed belong to the El Faro.

The search for the El Faro has been conducted so far by Coast Guard crews from Clearwater, St. Petersburg and Virginia. Hurricane Joaquin has hampered some efforts, but the guard reported unrestricted visibility, 15 knot winds and only 1-foot seas during Sunday’s search. The U.S. Air Force and Navy have also lent personnel to the search-and-rescue mission.

The search was expected to continue throughout the night Sunday.

Photo of a MH-60 refueling at sea during the search for the El Faro courtesy of the U.S. Coast Guard