AlHijjah 21, 1436, Oct 5, 2015, SPA -- A US cargo ship carrying 33 people that has been missing since it encountered strong winds and heavy seas from Hurricane Joaquin sank, but aircraft and ships will continue searching for the missing crew, the U.S. Coast Guard said Monday. Chief Petty Officer Jon-Paul Rios said the Coast Guard and the owner of the 240-meter container ship El Faro concluded that the ship sank after debris, containers, and an oil sheen were found. "We're definitely still looking for survivors at this time," Rios said in Jacksonville, Florida. "It's still a very active search-and-rescue operation." Three Coast Guard ships, three military airplanes, and helicopters were searching across a wide area of Atlantic Ocean off the Bahamas. Another Coast Guard spokesman, David Schulein, said searchers found a significant debris field 140 kilometers off Samana Cay believed to have come from the El Faro. The El Faro departed from Jacksonville on September 29, when Joaquin still was a tropical storm. The ship had 28 crew members from the United States and five from Poland, and it was traveling to Puerto Rico when it encountered problems. It was hit by winds of more than 210 kilometers per hour (kph) and waves of up to 9 meters. Radio contact was lost early Thursday. The crew reported that the ship had lost power, had taken on water, and was listing 15 degrees, but the situation was "manageable," in their last communication Thursday morning, according to ship owner TOTE Maritime Puerto Rico.
