A container ship with 33 people — 28 of them Americans — aboard is missing near the eye of Hurricane Joaquin as the sprawling storm readies to send possibly historic flooding to the U.S. East Coast this weekend.
The U.S.-flagged ship El Faro, carrying the Americans and five others, was missing Friday near the Bahamas after it sent a distress signal a day earlier to the U.S. Coast Guard.
A C-130 airplane searched for the vessel Friday morning, but was unable to make contact, said Coast Guard Capt. Mark Fedor.
Joaquin rumbled in the central Bahamas as a Category 3 hurricane with 125 mph winds. It weakened Friday afternoon from a Category 4 status with 130 mph winds.
Perhaps the only good news is that the hurricane is not expected to directly touch the U.S. mainland as it marches northerly over the open Atlantic.
Still, Joaquin threatens historic floods in the Carolinas and other inundations to the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic beginning Friday night through the weekend.
Ship goes missing
The El Faro apparently became caught in Joaquin, authorities say.
A U.S. Coast Guard plane was “searching for missing 737′ container ship w/ crew of 33 near eye of #Hurricane #Joaquin,” the agency said on Twitter.
The 735-foot-long cargo ship was bound for San Juan, Puerto Rico, from Jacksonville, Florida, authorities said.
At time of its departure on Tuesday, the ship’s officers were monitoring what was then Tropical Storm Joaquin, said Tim Nolan, president of TOTE Maritime Puerto Rico, which owns the vessel.
But on Thursday at 7:20 a.m. ET, the firm lost all communication with the El Faro, Nolan said.
“There are a number of possible reasons for the loss of communications among them the increasing severity of Hurricane Joaquin,” Nolan said in a statement.
The Coast Guard received a report Thursday morning that the ship had lost propulsion and was taking on water, but that the flooding had been contained.
The ship was reported to be in distress somewhere near Crooked Island in the Bahamas.
Another rescue mission was successful: On Thursday night, the Coast Guard helicopter lifted 12 sailors from their sinking 212-foot cargo ship besieged by Joaquin and listing 51 miles northwest of Haiti, the guard said. The 12 crew members were in a life raft and belonged to the Bolivian-flagged cargo ship Minouche.
The path of Joaquin
Early Friday, Joaquin essentially stalled over the Bahamas for a second morning. It began moving northward later in the day, the Hurricane Center said.
The latest tracking maps show the powerful storm staying well offshore after it leaves the island chain, which is expected to happen sometime on late Friday or early Saturday morning.
The storm’s “extremely dangerous conditions” are expected to continue over portions of the Bahamas on Friday, according to the National Hurricane Center.
Extensive flooding was reported, with up to 3 feet of standing water in some areas. Winds are 130 mph. Rainfall is expected to be about 12-18 inches over the central Bahamas, but some areas could see as much as 25 inches, the Hurricane Center said.
“We are closely monitoring Nassau now to see where the storm is at first light … since that is where the majority of the population is located,” said Basil Dean of the Bahamas Department of Meteorology. “Freeport, Grand Bahama, Eleuthera and other tourist areas are also being closely monitored.”