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Coast Guard suspends search for Survivors of El Faro

 
TOTE top officials Phil Greene, left, Anthony Chiarello and Tim Nolan speak about the fate of their missing cargo ship.
TOTE top officials Phil Greene, left, Anthony Chiarello and Tim Nolan speak about the fate of their missing cargo ship.
Published Oct. 8, 2015

JACKSONVILLE — The Coast Guard officially ended its search Wednesday for the missing crew members from a U.S. cargo ship that sank off the Bahamas during Hurricane Joaquin.

Petty Officer Mark Barney said the search for survivors from El Faro ended at 7 p.m.

Earlier Wednesday, the Coast Guard broke the news to grieving family members that it was abandoning the search for the 33 mariners, and investigators turned their attention to finding the vessel's data recorder 3 miles down at the bottom of the sea.

An intensive search by air and sea over tens of thousands of square miles turned up one unidentified body in a survival suit and a heavily damaged lifeboat but no sign of survivors from the 790-foot El Faro, which was last heard from nearly from a week ago as it was being tossed around in rough seas.

By preparing to end its search at sunset, the Coast Guard all but confirmed family members' worst fears — that all hands were lost. On board were 28 crew members from the United States, including 17 from Jacksonville, and five from Poland.

"Any decision to suspend a search is painful," Coast Guard Capt. Mark Fedor said. "They did all they could."

Even before the announcement, hopes of finding anyone alive were fading.

"The ship went down. And there's no questioning the outcome of that. The ship has gone down, took everybody with it. There's really no speculation to be made," said Mary Shevory, mother of crew member Mariette Wright.

Robert Green, father of LaShawn Rivera, held out hope despite the Coast Guard decision: "Miracles do happen, and it's God's way only. I'm prayerful, hopeful and still optimistic."

President Barack Obama promised the "full support of the U.S. government" as officials investigate the sinking of the cargo ship. In a statement issued Wednesday evening, Obama said the families of the crew members lost at sea deserve answers, and those who work at sea must be kept safe.