The Tribune

THE US Coast Guard broke the news to grieving family members yesterday that it was abandoning the search for the 33 mariners aboard a US container ship that sank last week in The Bahamas during Hurricane Joaquin.

An intensive search by air and sea over tens of thousands of square miles turned up one unidentified body in a survival suit and a heavily damaged lifeboat but no sign of survivors from the 790-foot El Faro, which was last heard from nearly from a week ago as it was being tossed around in rough seas off Crooked Island.

In announcing it would end the search at sunset, the Coast Guard all but confirmed family members’ worst fears - that all hands were lost. On board were 28 crew members from the US and five from Poland.

“Any decision to suspend a search is painful,” Coast Guard Captain Mark Fedor said. “They did all they could.”

Even before the announcement, hopes of finding anyone alive were fading. “The ship went down. And there’s no questioning the outcome of that. The ship has gone down, took everybody with it. There’s really no speculation to be made,” said Mary Shevory, mother of crew member Mariette Wright.

Robert Green, father of LaShawn Rivera, held out hope despite the Coast Guard decision: “Miracles do happen, and it’s God’s way only. I’m prayerful, hopeful and still optimistic.”

US federal investigators say they still hope to recover a data recorder from the ship. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) sent a team to Jacksonville, Florida, yesterday to begin the agency’s inquiry, which will help determine why Michael Davidson, the captain, the crew and owners of El Faro decided to risk sailing in stormy waters.

In addition to the voyage data recorder - which begins pinging when it gets wet and has a 30-day battery life - the board will focus on communications between the captain and the vessel’s owner.

Another question is whether the five Polish workers, whose job was to prepare the engine room for a retrofitting, had any role in the boat’s loss of power, which set the vessel adrift in the stormy seas. Officials from Tote Inc, the vessel’s owner, say they don’t believe so. But the question - along with the captain’s decision to plot a course near the storm - will help investigators figure out why the boat apparently sank.

The ship is believed to have gone down in 15,000 feet of water after reporting its last known position last Thursday.

The 41-year-old El Faro was scheduled to be retired from Caribbean duty and retrofitted in the coming months for service between the West Coast and Alaska, said Tote executive Phil Greene.

When the El Faro left Jacksonville on September 29 carying vehicles, five workers from Poland came along with 28 US crew members to do some preparatory work in the engine room, according to Mr Greene. He gave no details on the nature of their work.

“I don’t believe based on the work they were doing that they would have had anything to do with what affected the propulsion,” said Mr Greene, a retired Navy admiral.

The El Faro had no history of engine failure, he said, and the company said the vessel was modernised in 1992 and 2006. Company records show it underwent its last annual Coast Guard inspection in March.

F John Nicoll, a retired captain who spent years piloting the run to Puerto Rico, said he doubts the age of the El Faro was a factor, noting that there are many older ships plying US waters without incident.

He predicted the NTSB will look into whether company pressure to deliver the cargo on time despite the menacing weather played a role in the tragedy - something Tote executives have denied.

“Time and money are an important thing” in the shipping industry, Nicoll said. He said there should be emails and other messages between the captain and the company to help answer the question.