28 Americans Among Those Aboard Cargo Ship That Went Missing in Hurricane Joaquin

The U.S. cargo ship left Florida for Puerto Rico earlier this week.

ByABC News
October 2, 2015, 10:01 PM

— -- The Coast Guard says it is searching for a cargo ship with 33 people on board -- including 28 Americans -- that has gone missing near the Bahamas after it was caught in Hurricane Joaquin.

The U.S.-flagged El Faro, which also had five Polish nationals on board, left Jacksonville, Florida, en route to Puerto Rico on Tuesday. At 7:20 a.m. Thursday, the Coast Guard said it received notification that the ship had lost propulsion and had a 15-degree list. There has been no communication with the ship since, according to company that owns the ship, Tote Maritime.

"There are a number of possible reasons for the loss of communications among them the increasing severity of Hurricane Joaquin," Tim Nolan, president of Tote Maritime Puerto Rico, said in a statement today.

Wind and rain from Hurricane Joaquin affect Nassau, Bahamas, Oct. 2, 2015.

The Coast Guard said two Air Force C-130 Hurricane Hunter aircrews tried unsuccessfully to reestablish communications with the ship on Thursday.

The sky is overcast on south Eleuthera island, Bahamas, Oct. 2, 2015 as Hurricane Joaquin dumps torrential rains across the eastern and central Bahamas as a Category 4 storm.

Meanwhile, the Coast Guard has released video of a different Joaquin-related rescue -– of 12 mariners who abandoned their sinking cargo ship and crowded into a life raft northwest of Haiti yesterday.

The survivors, who were hoisted aboard a Coast Guard MH-60 Jayhawk rescue chopper, had “no major medical concerns” -– but amid 10 foot swells and 40 mph winds, the ship sank with more than $2 million worth of cargo, the USCG said.

ABC News' Erin Dooley contributed to this report.

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