Summary Vessel with 33 people aboard was last heard from on Thursday
MIAMI (AFP) - The US Coast Guard said Wednesday it has located more debris from the missing El Faro cargo ship, including a life jacket, as hopes of finding survivors dimmed.
The vessel with 33 people aboard was last heard from on Thursday and is believed to have sunk in the Bahamas during Hurricane Joaquin.
An intense air-and-sea search is ongoing and so far the Coast Guard has scoured an area of more than 172,000 square nautical miles, to no avail.
"At this time we are still actively searching," Coast Guard Chief Petty Officer Jon-Paul Rios told AFP in Miami.
"We found some food debris, some trash, we also found one life jacket and one survival suit, but nobody was in it," he added.
As the days pass, however, the likelihood of rescuing any crew members -- 28 Americans and five Poles -- is fading fast, he said.
"As time goes by it makes it more difficult to find survivors," Rios said.
So far, search crews have discovered one body.
Survivors can usually stay alive in warm water for four to five days, a Coast Guard official said previously.
The US National Transportation Safety Board sent a team to Jacksonville, Florida, Tuesday to begin an investigation, which may take months to complete.
Tote Maritime, the owner of the ship, has said it will cooperate with the probe and carry out its own probe of safety procedures on the ship.
The 735-foot (225-meter) El Faro was en route from Florida to Puerto Rico as Hurricane Joaquin approached the Bahamas.
The ship, reportedly caught in the storm near Crooked Island, sent a satellite notification that it had lost propulsion and was listing 15 degrees.
El Faro was carrying 391 containers in addition to 294 trailers and automobiles below deck when it disappeared.
Joaquin was downgraded to a tropical storm on Wednesday over open waters in the northern Atlantic and is expected to dissipate in the coming days, according to the US National Hurricane Center.
The Atlantic hurricane season s most powerful storm so far this year, Joaquin caused serious damage in the Bahamas and power outages in Bermuda.
