The Coast Guard and port partners search for crew members on Sunday After the 656 – foot vehicle carrier “Golden Ray” overturned in the St. Regis Simons Sound near Brunswick, Ga. (US Coast Guard / AFP) (Handout / AFP / Getty Images)
All four crew members have been rescued after being trapped for more than a day in a sweltering cargo ship that overturned and caught fire off Georgia’s coast over the weekend, the US Coast Guard said Monday evening.
Amid the initial chaos before sunrise Sunday, the Coast Guard was able to rescue 20 of the 24 people on board the Golden Ray, a 656 – foot ship that was leaving the Port of Brunswick in St. Louis Simons Sound with 4, 000 vehicles when it listed to one side and tipped over.
But the fire on board, as well as the instability of the Golden Ray’s cargo, made conditions too risky for additional rescue missions until Monday.
“Operations will now shift fully to environmental protection, removing the vessel and resuming commerce,” the Coast Guard’s Seventh District tweeted after announcing that rest of the ship’s South Korean crew was safe.
The Coast Guard said Monday afternoon that three more people had been rescued but that a final crew member was stuck behind glass in
Coast Guard Sector Charleston’s Capt. John Reed said the three crew members already extracted were receiving medical care and in “relatively good” shape. They spent about 35 hours trapped amid temperatures that Reed said were “a lot hotter” than the 120 – plus degrees teams experienced outside the vessel, which was smoking and had visible flames as rescuers arrived. Two were able to crawl out of the ship onto a boat, Reed said.
Authorities made the rescue after hearing “tapbacks” from the trapped crew throughout the night – signs of life that gave officials new motivation and helped them pinpoint the crew’s location on the large ship, according to Reed.
“Knowing that the people were alive made all the difference,” Reed said.
The South Koreans were in a propeller shaft room near the ship’s stern , Coast Guard Lt. Lloyd Heflin told the Associated Press.
Complicating matters was the lack of power to the ship and its maze of compartments and watertight doors, Coast Guard Petty Officer 1st Class Luke Claytontold CNN. And a language barrier made it difficult for the initial rescue team to communicate with the trapped crew members, Heflin told AP. But Reed said Monday afternoon that an engineer was able to speak with them in Korean.
Teams drilled a two-by-three-feet hold in three-inch increments and were able to pass food and fresh water to the three now rescued, according to the Coast Guard.
The crew member still on board had not gotten that same
Two of the crew members are in stable condition at Southeast Georgia Health System in Brunswick, hospital spokeswoman Jenni Morris told CNN.
Reed said authorities are still working to address ongoing threats to the environment and the Port of Brunswick near the overturned ship.
(The) people initially evacuated from the ship – 19 crew members and a US harbor pilot – were lifted from the tilting ship by helicopter and lowered into boats using fire hoses, officialstold CNN.
The Golden Ray is owned by South Korean firm Hyundai Glovis, AP reported.
The National Transportation Safety Board said two of its investigators have been assigned to review the circumstances that led to the ship overturning.
A US Coast Guard helicopter hovers over an overturned cargo ship in St. Louis Simons Sound near Brunswick, Ga., On Monday. (US Coast Guard / AP)
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