El Faro: Officials search for survivors as company explains decision

“Our prayers and thoughts go out to the family members and we will continue to do all we can to support them”.

Relatives questioned why a cargo ship set sail last week as Hurricane Joaquin grew stronger. At least three other Mainers, including Maine Maritime Academy graduates Dylan Meklin, Danielle Randolph both of Rockland, and Michael Holland of Wilton are aboard the ship.

Davidson attended the Maine Maritime Academy and has a home in Windham, Maine. When the rabid Gators fan wasn’t spending time with his family or on the El Faro, he worked at the Wing Palace, a Northside restaurant he opened a year ago on Dunn Avenue.

The Coast Guard has searched a total of 172,257 square nautical miles in the vicinity of the ship’s last known position, about 35 miles northeast of Crooked Islands, Bahamas.

Pingree said investigators have a relatively narrow area in which they believe the black box may be found. The device is created to send out pings for 30 days after it hits the water. “We hope for the best and that the ship will be recovered”.

“When the ship sailed on Tuesday evening, the storm was nowhere near what it was at the time that the vessel became disabled”, said Anthony Chiarello, president and CEO of Tote Incorporated.

The company that operated El Faro, Tote Maritime Puerto Rico, has not released the names of those who were aboard the ship. Officials from Tote Inc., the vessel’s owner, say they don’t believe so.

On Monday, the U.S. Coast Guard found a body in a survival suit, in the water, within a 225-square-mile debris field consisting of life jackets, life rings, cargo containers and an oil sheen.

He said search crews would have focused on anything indicating that there were survivors, and he believes the crews would have found a life boat or life raft if one were out there. The ship was stranded in the hurricane’s path due to engine trouble. The ship has not been heard from since it lost power and was taking on water in seas churned up by Hurricane Joaquin.

This was after the violent Category 4 hurricane, Joaquin, swept over the archipelago relentlessly for three days, beginning October 1, 2015.

At 5 p.m., the forecast showed that Joaquin would reach hurricane strength and that the ship’s path would take it straight into the track of the storm.

Many of El Faro’s crew were from Jacksonville, and there are signs of deep-rooted anger there about what happened to the ill-fated vessel.

Terrence Meadows, a junior engineer and union member, said the captain and company made a poor decision to go to sea.

“My heart is broken”.

“The First Lady and I are praying for all those aboard, including our four Mainers”. News crews were kept at a distance.

Safety officials began their investigation on Tuesday into the sinking, with deep seas likely to hamper attempts to find the ship and its 28 American crew members and five Polish contractors.

“It’s incomprehensible with the sophisticated weather routing technology that’s available that an over 700-foot merchant vessel can be caught in the middle of a previously forecasted hurricane”, he said.

He acknowledged at a news conference that engine failure sealed the fate of El Faro, however, making it impossible to steer in the face of a brutal storm.

“They are survivors. They’re not babies to the sea”, said Rhonda Porter, 40, Jones’s sister.