One of the 33 crew members aboard the ill-fated cargo ship El Faro was from Georgia.
Sylvester Crawford Jr. of Lawrenceville was among the names on the crew list released Wednesday after the Coast Guard ended its search for the 790-foot ship which sank Oct. 1 in high winds and waves off the Bahamas during Hurricane Joaquin.
Coast Guard, Navy, Air Force, Air National Guard and tugboat crews searched more than 183,000 square nautical miles off the Bahamian coast in an effort to locate the crew.
The El Faro was en route to San Juan, PuertoRico from Jacksonville, Fla. when the Coast Guard was notified the ship was disabled in the path of Hurricane Joaquin, had lost propulsion and had a 15-degree list. Officials say the ship’s captain had plans to go around the storm as he headed to Puerto Rico but the El Faro suffered unexplained engine failure that left it unable to avoid the storm.
The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating.
The Coast Guard located a deceased person in a survival suit in the water Sunday night. A heavily damaged life boat with markings consistent with those on board the El Faro were also located Sunday. Additional items located by search crews since Thursday include a partially submerged life raft, a survival suit, life jackets, life rings, cargo containers, Styrofoam, packaged food and an oil sheen.
Crew members came from mainly from Florida.
This story first appeared on the Atlanta Journal-Constitution website.