- Click to share on Facebook (Opens in a new window)
- Click to share on Twitter (Opens in a new window)
- Click here to share on LinkedIn (Opens in a new window)
- Click to email a friend (Opens in a new window)
(CNN) - Four members of the Golden Ray crew are still missing a day after the cargo ship overturned in St. Simons Bay on the coast of Georgia.
It was confirmed that the missing crew members, all citizens of South Korea, were in the ship's engine room, according to the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
But rescue efforts are paralyzed because a fire on the ship jeopardized the safety of emergency equipment, authorities said. The 656-foot (200-meter) cargo ship remains on the side of the waterway, about 80 miles (128 kilometers) south of Savannah.
A call for help
The first calls from the boat arrived around 2:00 am on Sunday, according to the US Coast Guard lieutenant. UU., Phillip VanderWeit.
The South Korean Foreign Ministry said the ship began to "sting heavily," about 80 degrees, to port before it capsized.
VanderWeit told CNN that help arrived almost two hours after receiving the first calls.
Twenty crew members were rescued by the US Coast Guard around 4 and 5 in the morning, VanderWeit said.
The rescued were leaving by several parts of the boat, which represented a challenge to get them out of the ship.
Some crew members were taken by helicopters while others were taken down, in some cases with fire hoses, to the boats, according to VanderWeit.
Four crew members could not be rescued when fires broke out on the ship that prevented rescuers from continuing their response, said Captain John Reed, commander of the Charleston Coast Guard sector, at a press conference.
“As the smoke and flames began to appear, our teams, along with the Glynn County heavy rescue team, assessed that the situation was too risky to go deeper into the ship and try to locate the four remaining people. missing right now, ”said Reed.
Officials are waiting for the ship to stabilize before attempting more bailouts, Reed said, but they aren't sure if the fire has gone out.
"We cannot determine, specifically without entering, whether the fire has completely extinguished," he said.
Although rescue efforts have stalled, the Coast Guard remains on the scene next to the boat while trying to stabilize the ship.
VanderWeit said the Coast Guard continues to search around the vessel. But the "suspended" search means they had to get off the ship due to fires and instability.
The investigation
Officials are still trying to determine what caused the boat to tip over.
Two investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) are expected to arrive on Monday, according to agency spokesman Keith Holloway.
The agency is supporting the investigation of the incident by the Coast Guard.
The Coast Guard's damage assessment team was on the scene Sunday night and other agencies that assisted in the incident include the Georgia Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and the Glynn County Fire Department, according to a press release from the Coast Guard.
The South Korean Foreign Ministry sent a representative of the Consulate General in Atlanta to the scene of the accident to determine the status of the rescue of the crew and provide assistance to the members of the South Korean crew that were already rescued.
The Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries has formed a protection of the Koreans working group abroad and is responding, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
The cargo ship, owned by Hyundai Glovis, transports vehicles and had just been unloaded and reloaded by dockers in the port of Brunswick in the hours before it began to tilt, according to a docker who spoke with CNN.
CNN contacted Hyundai Glovis but has not yet received a response.
The stevedore said that the loading process went smoothly and that nothing seemed unusual during.
While investigators work to locate missing crew members and determine the cause, pollution mitigation efforts are underway, according to Commander Norma Witt of the Savannah Coast Guard Marine Security Unit.
An "active release" of contamination was not reported until Sunday afternoon, but a unified command was established to respond, Witt said.
Although the contamination has not yet been detected, Georgia Coast Public Health officials issued a preventive warning for swimming at the beaches of St. Simons and Jekyll Island and said the Coastal Resources Division of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources conduct a water quality sampling to ensure the safety of shellfish beds and public beaches.
Amanda Jackson, Sarah Faidell, Dakin Andone and Melissa Alonso contributed to this report.
Cargo ship