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(CNN) - The remaining four crew members who were trapped aboard a cargo ship that flew off the coast of Georgia were rescued on Monday, the US Coast Guard said. First they rescued three and then the fourth.
The fourth crew member was trapped behind the glass in an engineering control room of the Golden Ray cargo ship, said Coast Guard Captain John Reed. He had not consumed fresh food and water since the ship sank, Reed said.
Reed said rescued crew members are receiving medical attention. Two of the crew members are in stable condition in the Southeast Georgia Health System in Brunswick, said Jenni Morris, a hospital spokeswoman for CNN.
The Coast Guard had been working since early Sunday to rescue the four members of the South Korean crew who were unable to get off the ship when they turned on St. Simons Sound. The size of the 656-foot ship and the fact that it has airtight doors, several compartments and no electricity running complicated the rescue, said first-class noncommissioned officer Luke Clayton.
A rescue team contacted the trapped crew members on Monday morning, Coast Guard Lt. Phillip VanderWeit said earlier in the day.
A team heard the blows of the propeller shaft area during the night, he said. Rescuers were left by helicopter and drilled a small hole in the ship to communicate with the crew members, VanderWeit said.
The video showed rescuers walking along the ship's hull, evaluating it for "possible entry," the Coast Guard said earlier.
#BreakingNews Salvage crews have have made contact with crew members in the #GoldenRay. Conditions unknown. Extraction being planned. #HappeningNow pic.twitter.com/wPdKfgqBdN
- USCGSoutheast (@USCGSoutheast) September 9, 2019
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.
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.
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.
