MIAMI, (Reuters) – Search-and-rescue teams yesterday located debris appearing to belong to the cargo ship El Faro, which went missing in the eye of Hurricane Joaquin with 33 mostly American crew members aboard more than three days ago, the U.S. Coast Guard and the ship’s owner said. There was no sighting of the El Faro or any lifeboats, Tim Nolan, president of ship’s owner Tote Maritime Puerto Rico, said in a statement.
With no word on the fate of the crew, relatives gathered at a seafarers’ union hall in Jacksonville, Florida where they were briefed by the Coast Guard and the ship’s owner.
“This is my baby, this is my little girl,” sobbed Mary Shevory Wright, an elderly woman waiting for word about her daughter, Mariette Wright, 51, a deckhand who had been at sea since the age of 18.
Fearing the worst Shevory Wright said she was reluctant to enter the union hall. “They are just going to make me cry.”
Another woman sat by the curb outside the union hall sobbing as family members hugged each other and held hands nearby.
Late Sunday the Coast Guard tweeted that the debris field covered 225 square miles, and included styrofoam, wood, cargo and other items.
Life jackets, containers and an oil sheen were spotted by Coast Guard aircrews flying over the Bahamas on the third day of their search for the container ship.
