Hunt for El Faro

The container ship disappeared with 33 people on board.

    When the cargo ship El Faro set off for Puerto Rico from Jacksonville, Florida. It was supposed to be a routine voyage. But the vessel soon found itself in the path of Hurricane Joaquin, and it ran into mechanical trouble at the worst possible moment. There were thirty-three crew members on board: twenty-eight Americans and five Polish nationals. Now, the U.S. Coast Guard is searching for any signs of life.

    The El Faro went missing near the Bahamas. The U.S. Coast Guard said it concluded that the 790-foot ship sank at its last known location. According to CNN meteorologist Brandon Miller, the forecast for Joaquin changed significantly on the day El Faro left port. Joaquin was forecasted to be a tropical storm that was unlikely to get in the way of El Faro´s route. By midday, the storm forecast was still for a tropical storm but it was moving closer to the ship's path. 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.

    A Coast Guard official said that El Faro lost propulsion and became disabled at sea. With a failing propulsion system, the ship was left floundering in the path of Hurricane Joaquin. While the disappearance of such a large ship is unusual, the size of the ship was no match for a hurricane. The ship carried two lifeboats and five life rafts, with each lifeboat stocked with survival rations to sustain forty-three people. The Coast Guard has stopped looking for El Faro itself and has put all its energy toward searching for survivors. The massive search in the Caribbean Sea has created a 225-square-mile debris field, but so far no ship and no survivors.
Staff Reporter Shianna Evans