The Tribune

The U.S. Coast Guard is searching for a cargo ship with 33 people aboard that went missing as Category 4 Hurricane Joaquin hit the Bahamas.

Officials said Friday that the 735-foot (224-metre) ship named El Faro was en route to San Juan, Puerto Rico, from Jacksonville, Florida. They said they received notification that the ship had lost propulsion and was listing at 15 degrees near Crooked Island in the eastern Bahamas.

The Coast Guard said the crew told officials that the ship had taken on water but that they eventually contained the flooding.

Officials said rescue crews had not been able to re-establish communications with the crew on Thursday or Friday.

• On Thursday night, the US Coast Guard rescued 12 people and took them to the Bahamas after their cargo ship began taking water near Haiti amid Hurricane Joaquin.

According to reports in US media, a Coast Guard cutter and helicopter and a good Samaritan vessel came to the aid of the listing 212-ft Bolivian-flagged cargo ship Minouche and located the crew who had abandoned it. The crew were taken to Great Inagua, with no major injuries.