By Susan Cooper Eastman

JACKSONVILLE, Fla., Oct 7 (Reuters) – The U.S. Coast Guard on Wednesday ended its seek for lacking crew of the cargo ship El Faro that sank off the Bahamas final week after crusing into the trail of Hurricane Joaquin.

An exhaustive air and sea seek for potential survivors was referred to as off at sundown, six days after communication was misplaced with the ship and the 33 individuals aboard, the Coast Guard mentioned.

The determination got here a day after federal security officers arrived in Jacksonville, Florida, El Faro’s house port, to launch an investigation into what maritime specialists have referred to as the worst cargo delivery catastrophe involving a U.S.-flagged vessel in additional than 30 years.

The White House issued an announcement because the search was winding down, promising “the grieving families of El Faro” full authorities help within the investigation into what occurred to the ship.

“May God bless the men and women of the El Faro,” it mentioned.

The ship’s house owners, Tote Maritime Puerto Rico, imagine the ship sank final Thursday after struggling engine failure throughout its weekly run from Jacksonville to San Juan, Puerto Rico, leaving it on the mercy of Joaquin off the southern Bahamas.

Officials had acknowledged earlier that possibilities of discovering survivors had been distant, on condition that the 790-foot (240-meter) ship, piled excessive with containers, disappeared in the midst of a ferocious storm with excessive seas whipped up by winds of 130 miles (215 km) per hour.

The physique of just one presumed crew member was discovered in the course of the search. El Faro was carrying 28 U.S. crew members and 5 Polish contractors when it set out from Jacksonville.

“Everybody’s crying. It’s not a good situation,” mentioned Terrence Meadows, 36, a service provider marine junior engineer who knew a few of El Faro’s crew. He spoke after becoming a member of grieving kinfolk on the Seafarers International Union corridor in Jacksonville as phrase started to unfold, forward of the official announcement, that the seek for survivors was ending.

“To be absolutely honest, I knew everyone was dead. We don’t get trained to survive in a hurricane in the ocean,” Meadows mentioned.

The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board will proceed trying to find the wreckage of El Faro, although deep seas will seemingly hamper the hassle, mentioned an official spearheading the investigation.

The stretch of ocean the place the ship is believed to have gone down, alongside a closely transited delivery channel, is almost three miles (5 km) deep.

NTSB Vice Chairman Bella Dinh-Zarr mentioned her staff will probably be listening for the pinging of El Faro’s voyage knowledge recorder, or VDR, which has similarities to the black packing containers on airplanes. The system preserves the final 12 hours of engine orders and communications from the bridge. It was supposed to begin pinging its location as quickly because it touched water, Dihn-Zarr mentioned, however searchers have but to listen to it.

Dinh-Zarr mentioned the selections of El Faro’s captain and the route the ship took, as nicely the strain to ship its cargo, will probably be scrutinized as a part of an investigation into “the human factor” behind the catastrophe.

“We will be studying the meteorological conditions and all of the factors that went into the decision-making to sail on that day and to continue to sail,” she mentioned.

The investigation can even have a look at when and why the engine failed, and if there have been issues earlier than the ship left port, she mentioned.

Barry Young, whose nephew LeShawn Riviera, 32, was one of many crew, mentioned he hoped the investigation would result in higher safeguards for all mariners.

“There must be a greater emphasis on the safety of the crew and of the lives of the people on board these ships over the delivery of cargo,” Young mentioned.

(Writing by David Adams in Miami; Editing by Tom Brown)

(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015.

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