/Massive cargo ship capsizes and catches fire near Georgia, Coast Guard search for crew

Massive cargo ship capsizes and catches fire near Georgia, Coast Guard search for crew

The U.S. Coast Guard is searching for four missing crew members of a cargo ship that capsized and caught fire early Sunday morning near Brunswick, Georgia.

At approximately 2 a.m. ET, Coast Guard Sector Charleston was alerted that motor vessel Golden Ray had capsized in St. Simons Sound, a bay in Brunswick, according to a press release from the Coast Guard.

Multiple Coast Guard resources were deployed to the scene, and 20 people were safely removed, the press release stated. Four remained missing as of 11 a.m. ET.

The ship, which the Coast Guard described as “on fire” and could be seen in photos generating smoke, has a crew of 24 people — 23 crew members and one pilot. The Golden Ray is 656-feet-long and 106-feet-wide.

During a press conference Sunday afternoon, officials said rescue efforts underway, but it was determined going inside the ship to rescue the remaining four people was too risky. Authorities said they would resume their attempts to enter the ship and search for the four missing people once the vessel was stabilized.

Several local agencies were assisting the Coast Guard in its search for the missing crew members, including the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Moran Towing, SeaTow, Brunswick Bar Pilots Association, and the Glynn County Fire Department.

“We greatly appreciate the immediate response of the US Coast Guard, who are leading the search and rescue,” Griffith V. Lynch, executive director of the Georgia Ports Authority, said.

The ship had just departed Colonels Island Terminal when it capsized.

A cargo ship overturned near New Brunswick, Ga., on Sept. 8, 2019.WTLV
Original Source