PORT FOURCHON, La. — On Friday afternoon, the families of the missing Seacor Power crew members were once again invited to a private meeting.
At this meeting, the Coast Guard announced that they had recovered a second body from the Gulf. The body was found 33 miles from the vessel.
On Tuesday, the body of the first victim, Captain David Ledet was recovered.
A Coast Guard Aviation Training Center Mobile MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew spotted one person in the water at 7:10 p.m. on Thursday, while searching the area.
The crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Benjamin Daily, also in the area searching, recovered the unresponsive person and transported him to Coast Guard Station Grand Isle where a coroner pronounced the man deceased.
KLFY confirmed the body recovered on Thursday was that of 69-year-old Ernest Williams.
Divers returned to the scene at 7:50 a.m. Friday to conduct an assessment and began dive operations. Divers had to resurface mid morning due to dangerous weather conditions, but resumed diving again around 1:30 p.m. Friday.
Friday is day three that the U.S. Coast Guard is on search and rescue mode, which means it’s been more than 63 hours since the Seacor lifting vessel capsized in the Gulf of Mexico.
As the search continues for the missing crew members on the Seacor vessel, the numbers are now six crew members rescued, two crew members dead, and 11 unaccounted for.
On Thursday, the Coast Guard told WGNO News that they used thermal imaging on the vessel and possibly detected two people trapped inside but, they are “still evaluating.”
They are still promising the family that their efforts are continuing and they are planning to get inside the vessel. Once they do, the Coast Guard says they think it will take three to four days to sweep the vessel because there are so many rooms.
