Comment on Sunken US ship had sufficient lifeboats, but terrible storm

Sunken US ship had sufficient lifeboats, but terrible storm

(AP) — Crew members trained regularly in calm waters to handle the lifeboats would instead likely have struggled against buffeting by huge 50-foot waves, a vessel taking on water and listing to one side and winds the Coast Guard estimated reached 140 mph. Coast Guard and Navy planes, helicopters, cutters and tugboats searched across a 300-square-mile expanse of Atlantic Ocean near Crooked Island in the Bahamas, where the ship was last heard from while on its way from Jacksonville, Florida, to Puerto Rico. [...] spotted were an oil sheen, cargo containers, a partly submerged life raft — the ship carried five rafts, each capable of holding 17 people — life jackets and life rings, authorities said. Phil Greene, president and CEO of Tote Services Inc., said the captain had a plan to sail ahead of the hurricane with room to spare. Anxious family members, gathered at the Seafarers union hall in Jacksonville, tried to remain optimistic, but some wondered why the ship sailed into such a potent storm. "What we've all questioned from the very start is why the captain would take them through a hurricane of this magnitude, or any hurricane," said Barry Young, uncle of crew member Shaun Riviera.

 

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