FOURCHON, La. (WGNO) — A dozen crew members are still missing. On Thursday morning, crews were supposed to send a dive team into the water around 5:30 A.M. and at this point, it is unclear if the crew left the dock due to weather.
Onboard when the vessel capsized were 19 crew members. So far, six have been confirmed rescued, one confirmed dead and 12 are missing. Hopeful that the missing crew members might be trapped inside, the diving team was going to investigate.
Unfortunately, the conditions have been too dangerous for search and rescue crews to make it to the vessel to check for survivors or the unaccounted crew members. So, it is unknown if there are crew members trapped inside.
The search and rescue crews have searched 1,440 square miles—-which is larger than the state— Rhode Island.
According to U.S. Coast Guard Captain, Will Watson says the six rescued, were all found in the water within the vicinity of the vessel.
This morning the search is going to continue but, as for when will the coast guard call off the search, ABC’s Elwyn Lopez asked Captain Will Watson that question and his answer is giving the families something to hold onto.
“The search and rescue business is one where you have to be hopeful and so, to be honest with you I’m in search and rescue mode I’m not thinking about when I’m gonna stop searching that’s a consideration but my focus and my energy and our team’s energy is on finding those twelve folks,” said Captain Watson.
After 24 hours of radio silence from the company that owns the vessel, named Seacor made this statement:
“We are deeply saddened by the news of the vessel capsizing and are working closely with the US Coast Guard and local authorities to support all efforts to locate our valued team members and partners. We would like to thank the US Coast Guard and good Samaritan vessels for their immediate response as well as the brave individuals who have further supported our search and rescue efforts. And hearts and prayers go out to everyone involved.”
The Coast Guard is not releasing the name of the deceased crew member or the names of the six rescued.
As new details become available, we will update our viewers.