Coast Guard: Missing Cargo Ship Sank

Update 10:25 a.m. ET: The U.S. Coast Guard said it found the body of one crew member from the cargo ship El Faro, which sank in Hurricane Joaquin.

Capt. Mark Fedor said Monday that an airborne crew spotted several survival suits floating amid debris from the El Faro. Most were empty but one had a body. A helicopter crew confirmed the person was dead but had to leave the body behind to continue the search for possible survivors.

Fedor also said crews found one of two lifeboats from El Faro, but it had no people or signs of life. He said the ship had two lifeboats, and each can hold 43 people. There were 33 people on board the 790-foot cargo ship, which was last heard from Thursday.

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Update 9:55 a.m. ET: The U.S. Coast Guard said Monday the cargo ship that went missing last week off the Bahamas sank. The search for the 33 people on board though continues.

Chief Petty Officer Jon-Paul Rios said the Coast Guard and the ship's owner concluded Monday that the 790-foot container ship El Faro sank after encountering Hurricane Joaquin's high winds and heavy seas last week.

Rios said Coast Guard cutters and aircraft and a U.S. Navy plane continued searching the Atlantic Ocean for the missing crew. The ship's owners say it carried more than enough lifeboats and rafts for the crew.

The search Sunday yielded a container, pieces of another container and a life ring from the El Faro. An oil sheen also was spotted.

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Crews with the U.S. Coast Guard spotted a debris field the size of 225 square nautical miles thought to be left by a 790-foot cargo ship, which went missing with 33 people on board off the coast of the Bahamas in the midst of Hurricane Joaquin.

A news release from TOTE Maritime Puerto Rico, the company which owns the El Faro cargo ship, said Sunday that the debris could not officially be confirmed as from the ship at the time, but Coast Guard air crews spotted life jackets, life rings, containers and an oil sheen.

The company's president said "there has been no sighting of the El Faro or any life boats."

Image source: WFOR-TV

The El Faro departed from Jacksonville, Florida on Sept. 29, when Joaquin was still a tropical storm, with 28 crew members from the United States and five from Poland. The ship was heading to Puerto Rico on a regular cargo supply run to the U.S. island territory when it ran into trouble. It was being battered by winds of more than 130 mph and waves of up to 30 feet.

The crew reported that the ship had lost power, had taken on water and was listing 15 degrees but that the situation was "manageable," in their last communication on Thursday morning, TOTE Maritime Puerto Rico, said. They have not been heard from since.

Image source: WFOR-TV

Family members like Laurie Bobillot, whose daughter is a second mate on the ship, said they are trying to stay positive.

"These kids are trained. Every week they have abandon ship drills," she told the Associated Press. 

Other family members like Mary Shevory admit that they're "not holding up well."

"We cry together, we wail and scream and cry and pray," Shevory told WKMG-TV, her daughter on the cargo ship.

The Coast Guard search has included two HC-130 planes and a MH-60 Jayhawk along with three 210-foot cutters. The U.S. Navy and Air Force are also involved in the search.

The cutters remained out overnight and the planes set out again Monday morning.

"Our thoughts and prayers remain with the 33 individuals aboard the ship and their families. They are our number one priority," Nolan said in a statement.

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The Associated Press contributed to this report.