Update (Sunday 1 p.m. EDT) – Developing story… ‘ Multiple Objects ’ Found in Search for Missing Cargo Ship El Faro
Update (Saturday 8 p.m. EDT) – The U.S. Coast Guard has confirmed that a life ring belonging to El Faro was found in the research area near the Bahamas on Saturday .
The life ring was spotted during an overflight approximately 120 nautical miles northeastern of Crooked Island, Bahamas. A Coast Guard helicopter crowd recovered the life ring and confirmed it belonged to the missing embark El Faro.
search and rescue crews have searched more than 30,000 square-miles since Thursday, the Coast Guard said late Saturday .
Sea conditions in the search area on Saturday were reported to be 20 to 40-feet with winds in excess to 100 knots, according to the Coast Guard. Visibility for search and rescue flying between 500 and 1,000 feet has been reported to be less than one nautical mile at times, the Coast Guard added .
Update (Saturday 11 a.m. EDT) – The search for the missing El Faro with 33 crewmembers resumed Saturday dawn near the Bahamas .
Coast Guard search operations were suspended overnight and resumed at first light up this good morning .
search and rescue assets deployed include three C130 aircraft, a USCG Helo helicopter, a Navy P-8 aircraft, the USCG Cutter Northland, USCG Cutter Resolute and a Navy ship. Three commercial tugs are besides enroute to the search placement, according to an update Saturday dawn from TOTE Maritime .
Update (Friday 8 p.m EDT) – The U.S. Coast Guard suspended its search overnight for the missing MV El Faro and its 33 crewmembers after a search near the Bahamas on Friday turned up empty .
The Coast Guard updated Friday evening that the research had covered approximately 850 nautical miles of ocean and involved the Coast Guard Cutter Northland, HC-130 Hercules airplanes from Coast Guard Air Station Clearwater, Florida and a MH-60 Jayhawk rescue helicopter crew forward deployed in Great Inagua, Bahamas .
therefore far, search and rescue crews have been unable to locate and reestablish communications with the vessel and its gang. last contact was made with the vessel Thursday morning at 7:30 ante meridiem as the ship sailed into the path Hurricane Joaquin .
The search was temporarily suspended at sunset Friday and will continue at first idle Saturday dawn, the Coast Guard said .
As of 8 autopsy. EDT Friday, Hurricane Joaquin was downgraded to a category 3 hurricane from a Category 4 with soap sustained winds of 125 miles per hour, according to the National Hurricane Center. Its center was located about 25 miles north-northeast of San Salvador in the Bahamas and moving NE at 7 miles per hour, the NHC said. Some boring de-escalate is forecast during the following 48 hours, it added .
Earlier Friday: The U.S. Coast Guard has launched a search for a U.S.-flagged container ship with 33 crewmembers aboard reported to be caught in Hurricane Joaquin, near Crooked Island, Bahamas .
The Coast Guard reported Friday dawn that at approximately 7:30 ante meridiem Thursday, watchstanders at the Coast Guard Atlantic Area command kernel in Portsmouth, Virginia, received an Inmarsat satellite telling stating the 735-foot cargo ship El Faro was beset by Hurricane Joaquin while en route to San Juan, Puerto Rico, from Jacksonville, Florida. The notification said that the ship had lost propulsion and had a 15-degree list.
The El Faro crowd reported the ship had previously taken on water, but that all implosion therapy had been contained, the Coast Guard said .
The Coast Guard launched an HC-130 aircrew out of Clearwater, Florida to search for the missing ship and its crew .
Two Air Force C-130 Hurricane Hunter aircrews have besides attempted to locate the ship inside the hurricane and restore communications, but then far all attempts have been unsuccessful. Coast Guard crews remain on scene and are continuing search efforts Friday by both air and sea .
El Faro is share of TOTE Maritime ’ s fleet service in the Jones Act Puerto Rico trade. The crew is comprised of 28 U.S. citizens and five polish nationals, according to the Coast Guard .
Hurricane Joaquin grew to a knock-down Category 4 storm on Thursday, battering the Bahamas with torrential rain, hard winds and storm surges. On late Thursday, Joaquin was centered about 75 miles ( 120 kilometer ) south of San Salvador, Bahamas with maximum sustained winds of 130 miles per hour ( 210 kilometers per hour ), the National Hurricane Center said in its advisory late on Thursday .
Tim Nolan, President of TOTE Maritime Puerto Rico issued the succeed statement regarding the position with the El Faro :
“ On September 29, the El Faro, one of TOTE Maritime Puerto Rico ’ s two ships departed Jacksonville en-route to San Juan Puerto Rico. At the time of the El Faro ’ second deviation, the vessel ’ second officers and crew were monitoring what was then tropical Storm Joaquin. As of 720am eastern time on Thursday October 1, TOTE Maritime Puerto Rico lost all communication with the El Faro. The US Coast Guard was immediately notified and since then we have been unable to reestablish communication. There are a number of possible reasons for the loss of communications among them the increasing badness of Hurricane Joaquin .
TOTE Maritime Puerto Rico ’ s elementary concern is for the guard and wellbeing of the 33 individuals on board. We are working to ensure clear and patronize communications with their families and sleep together ones as we learn more .
We have reached out to the families of those impacted and have established overt lines of communication to provide them with seasonably updates. Our thoughts and prayers are with the individuals and their families.Read more: What is the Maritime Industry?
TOTE Maritime Puerto Rico is working closely with the US Coast Guard and all available resources to establish communication by whatever means possible. ”
Location of Hurricane Joaquin on Thursday:
The El Faro has been a part of Sea Star Line ’ s three-ship fleet serving the Jones Act trade path between the U.S. and Puerto Rico and the Caribbean. Until a few weeks ago, Sea Star Line was an operate party within TOTE, Inc., but it was recently re-organized along with Totem Ocean Trailer Express, serving the Alaska market, under the TOTE Maritime brand .
The El Faro was primitively built in 1975 and underwent a major overhaul in 2006. The ship was besides once known as the Northern Lights .
besides on Thursday, the U.S. Coast Guard rescued 12 crewmembers who abandoned the Bolivian-flagged cargo ship Minouche union of Haiti after the ship developed a hard list .
An update on Hurricane Joaquin from the National Weather Service on Friday said :
SUMMARY OF 200 PM EDT…1800 UTC…INFORMATION
———————————————-
LOCATION…23.8N 74.8W
ABOUT 10 MI…15 KM N OF RUM CAY BAHAMAS
ABOUT 25 MI…40 KM SW OF SAN SALVADOR BAHAMAS
MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS…130 MPH…215 KM/H ( about 115 kts )
PRESENT MOVEMENT…N OR 0 DEGREES AT 5 MPH…8 KM/H
MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE…942 MB…27.82 INCHES
The center of the ramp is now moving north, but forecast to track more northeast next 12-24 hours as it moves off from the Bahamas, according to meteorologist Fred Pickhardt from Ocean Weather Services. presently, hurricane military unit winds extend outward about 45NM and 50kt winds out some 70-80NM, he says .
The under gif was created by Michael Lowry, a Hurricane specialist from the Weather Channel, showing the bode cone of Joaquin beginning Sunday. Remember the embark departed Jacksonville on Tuesday, was scheduled to arrive in San Juan Friday, and sent it last communication on Thursday ( Oct. 1 ) at 7:20 ante meridiem while about 35 miles nautical miles northeast of Crooked Islands, Bahamas, about precisely where the eye of ramp ended up and stayed for about two days .
Join the discussion on this incidental in the gCaptain Forum .
El Faro facts below provided by TOTE Maritime:
El Faro Specs:
capacity : 600 FEU
Length : 790 foot.
Max Speed : 22 knots
year Built : 1974
Updated : 1992/2006
US-built at Sun Shipbuilding in January 1975
US-flagged, American crew.
790 feet long
Cargo Information:
Cargo onboard : 391 containers, 294 trailers and cars
Safety Information:
last full American Bureau of Shipping annual hull and machinery inspections were completed February 13, 2015.
death US Coast Guard annual inspection was completed on March 5 & 6, 2015. The TOTE Services group conducts a formal annual onboard safety audited account. The last audit was completed on March 3, 2015 .
TOTE Services larboard engineers conduct weekly shipboard meet with the captain and chief engineer to review care and command hold. In accession, shoreside contractors provide regularly scheduled vessel confirm when in Jacksonville .
Lifesaving Equipment:
El Faro has one lifeboat on each side of the ship. Each is designed to be unsinkable even if full of water and full of crowd. The lifeboats can be launched without ships power from their graveness davits. Each lifeboat can hold 43 persons and has survival rations onboard .
The lifeboats on the El Faro are open character, each certified to carry 43 people. One is propelled by manual office and the other by a belittled diesel locomotive .
The lifeboats are constructed of Fiber Reinforced Plastic ( fiberglass ) .
There are voids in the hull filled with buoyant foam to provide plus stability ( unsinkable ) and self-righting ( can not flip over ). Buoyancy material must be accepted by the US Coast Guard.El Faro has five life rafts onboard. There are ( 2 ) 25-man life rafts on each side plus an extra 6-man liferaft on the bow. sum life raft capacity is 106 persons persons. Life rafts are normally manually launched over the side. They will besides designed to float barren and self-deploy .
