Debris, oil sheen found in El Faro search

The U.S. Coast Guard says a shipping container has been located in the waters of the sprawling search area, but authorities don’t yet know whether it is from the El Faro cargo ship that is missing with 33 people on board.

The El Faro was heading to San Juan, Puerto Rico from Jacksonville, Florida when it ran into trouble.

The container ship El Faro, seen here in an undated photo, has gone missing in the area of Hurricane Joaquin near the Bahamas.

The ship was carrying 391 containers “so it had a lot of topside height to it where the winds and waves could hit it”, Fedor said.

“We are still looking for survivors or any signs of life”, Fedor said at a Monday news conference near Miami.

On Thursday, the cargo ship El Faro disappeared in Hurricane Joaquin with four Mainers believed to be on board.

However, as of Saturday morning, there is still no sign of the El Faro or any crew members.

Several survival suits were found and searchers “did identify human remains in one”, Coast Guard Captain Mark Fedor said.

Somewhere near the Bahamas, a container ship with 28 Americans and five Polish nationals was still missing Saturday, lost in ocean waters roiled by a Category 4 hurricane.

The ship left Jacksonville on a regular cargo supply run when Joaquin was only a tropical storm. The crew had initially reported Thursday that waters flooding into the vessel had been contained, the Coast Guard said.

“She is a sturdy, rugged vessel that was well maintained and that the crew members were proud of”, Greene said.

Anthony Chiarello, president and CEO of ship owner TOTE, says that he has been in communication with the crew members’ families and that they will do everything “humanly possible” to ensure a safe return of the crew.

“It delivered a single-burst transmission and then did not deliver any more transmissions after that”, said Phil Green, an executive with TOTE Maritime, which owns the vessel.

As more floating debris was spotted Sunday, the company said its “thoughts and prayers remain with the 33 individuals aboard the ship and their families”.

“I think the most critical importance for us is that we share as much information as we have, that we’re upfront about the situations as we possibly can be”, Greene told the station. There has been no contact from the ship since. “At this time there has been no sighting of the El Faro or any life boats”.

Rios said the hope Saturday was “to get closer to the position that they were trying to search yesterday, seeing as how the storm has shifted a little bit”. Previously an oil sheen and a life ring confirmed as belonging to El Faro had been discovered.

Fedor called the survival conditions “challenging”, but noted that the crew would have been well-trained at abandoning ship.

Barry Young, whose nephew Shaun Riviera is a crew member, said the vessel was equipped with state-of-the-art lifeboats and the increased visibility was giving relatives hope. Though there are no reports of injuries or fatalities, residents on the island chain say they are trapped inside their homes as it is too risky to come outside. “So really, they’re just moving along with the force of the storm”.