The ship, the 790-foot El Faro, has not been heard from since it lost power and was taking on water in fierce seas churned up by Hurricane Joaquin. By early Sunday afternoon, the U.S. Coast Guard said its aircrews spotted "life jackets, life rings, containers and an oil sheen" in the sprawling search area but they have not yet been able to confirm whether the debris and oil is from the El Faro. On Saturday, the Coast Guard said it located an orange life ring from the cargo ship that emitted a distress ping Thursday, but then went silent.
Family, union and company officials wait outside the Seafarer's International Union hall, Sunday, Oct. 4, 2015, in Jacksonville, Fla., as an intensive search resumed Sunday in the southeastern Bahamas for a U.S. cargo ship with 33 people on board. The ship has not been heard from since it lost power and was taking on water as it was battered in fierce seas churned up by Hurricane Joaquin.
The missing vessel's owner, TOTE Maritime Puerto Rico, said a contracted tugboat and another of its ships had found a container that appears to be from the El Faro. But "there has been no sighting of the El Faro or any life boats," company president Tim Nolan said in a statement. U.S. Navy and Air Force planes and helicopters were helping Coast Guard crews looking for the ship across a broad expanse of the Atlantic Ocean around Crooked Island, which the El Faro was passing as the storm turned into a powerful Category 4 hurricane.
An Air Force base in south Mississippi said two planes with "Hurricane Hunter" air crews that had flown into Hurricane Joaquin were also called on to participate in the search for the cargo ship. Maj. Marnee Lasurdo told the Sun Herald of Biloxi that the two C-130 crews were studying the storm on Thursday when the Coast Guard asked their help. She said the crews searched near the Bahamas on Thursday and Friday for the El Faro. TOTE Maritime Puerto Rico told family members of the crew gathered at a union hall in Jacksonville, Florida not to be discouraged after news of the life ring found Saturday was circulated.
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