Debris spotted as crews search for ship lost off Bahamas

NASSAU, Bahamas — Rescuers spotted floating debris and an oil sheen Sunday as U.S. crews continue an intensive search off the southeastern Bahamas for a U.S. cargo ship with 33 people on board that has not been heard from since it lost power days ago and was taking on water in fierce seas churned up by Hurricane Joaquin.

Early Sunday afternoon, the U.S. Coast Guard said its aircrews have spotted "life jackets, life rings, containers and an oil sheen" in the sprawling search area but they have not yet been able to confirm whether the debris and oil is from the 790-foot El Faro. On Saturday, the Coast Guard said it located an orange life ring from the missing cargo ship.

U.S. Navy and Air Force planes and helicopters were helping Coast Guard crews looking for the ship across a broad expanse of the Atlantic Ocean around Crooked Island, which the El Faro was passing as the storm turned into a powerful Category 4 hurricane.

Hurricane Joaquin moved out of the Bahamas and was nearing the mid-Atlantic territory of Bermuda on Sunday afternoon as a weakening Category 3 storm. Rough weather had initially hampered the search, but conditions had improved enough by Sunday for the Coast Guard to dispatch one of its cutters, the Northland, to aid the aerial search. Two other cutters were on their way.

"Our hope is that we can really saturate that area better than yesterday," Petty Officer First Class David Schuhlein, a Coast Guard spokesman.

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