Recovery teams have located the remains of one crew member from a cargo vessel that capsized during a powerful typhoon near the Northern Mariana Islands, while five others remain unaccounted for.
Military divers from the U.S. Air Force employed underwater drone technology to explore the interior of the capsized ship and successfully retrieved the body on Tuesday, according to a statement from the U.S. Coast Guard.
Japanese Coast Guard diving teams also conducted searches of the vessel but did not locate any additional crew members, Coast Guard officials reported.
“Coast Guard aircrews continue to search for the five missing crewmen and an orange 12-person life raft in the vicinity of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands,” the news release said.
The maritime emergency began when the Mariana’s crew contacted the U.S. Coast Guard on April 15, reporting that their 145-foot U.S.-flagged cargo ship had lost its starboard engine amid Super Typhoon Sinlaku and required immediate help. Communication with the vessel was lost the following day.
“Our hearts are with the families of the Mariana crew members and the communities impacted by this tragic incident,” Cmdr. Preston Hieb, search and rescue mission coordinator, Coast Guard Oceania District, said in a statement. “We continue to search in close coordination with our partners, using all available resources to support the ongoing response.”
Severe weather conditions initially hampered rescue operations, but search teams eventually located the capsized vessel on Saturday approximately 40 miles northeast of Pagan, an island within the Northern Marianas U.S. territory.
Coast Guard officials announced Monday that rescue boats and diving teams had been dispatched to attempt underwater drone searches of the overturned ship. Search crews also discovered debris, including a partially flooded inflatable life raft, roughly 110 miles away from the vessel’s location.
Super Typhoon Sinlaku devastated the Northern Mariana Islands with destructive winds and severe flooding.
