Life ring recovered from cargo ship missing in Hurricane Joaquin,

The U.S. Coast Guard recovered a life ring Saturday belonging to a large cargo ship with 28 Americans on board that vanished as Hurricane Joaquin slammed the Bahamas. Officials said the 735-foot ship, known as El Faro, was en route to San Juan, Puerto Rico, from Jacksonville, Florida. They said they received notification that the ship had lost power around 7 a.m. ET Thursday near Crooked Island in the eastern Bahamas, one of the islands most battered by the storm.

Captain Mark Fedor, chief of response for the 7th Coast Guard District in Miami, told Fox News' Julie Banderas on "Fox Report Weekend" searchers did not find any other signs of the vessel, adding that the search conditions on were "pretty extreme" for crews. A search plane flew within 50 nautical miles of the eye of Hurricane Joaquin on Saturday, Fedor said. The Coast Guard said the crew told officials the ship had taken on water but that they eventually contained the flooding, Fox30 reported. Authorities said five Polish nationals are also on board the missing ship. "Our thoughts and prayers are with the individuals and their families," TOTE Maritime Puerto Rico said in a statement.
Fedor said the vessel was very close to the eye of Joaquin when the power cut out. Two Air Force C-130 Hurricane Hunter aircrews tried to locate and reestablish communications with the El Faro unsuccessfully Thursday. The Coast Guard combed a vast 850 square nautical mile area before calling off the search Friday. It resumed Saturday at sunrise by air and by sea. Fedor said the C-130's were flying over the area at an altitude of 2,000 feet, much lower than the 10,000 feet at which Hurricane Hunter aircraft usually fly, in order to see through the heavy rains and sea spray as they search for the missing ship. "We're going to do the best we can during daylight hours," Fedor said of the search. Fedor said the El Faro was carrying 294 trailers and automobiles in its hold, in addition to the 391 shipping containers on-deck, as it battled 20 to 30 foot seas. "This is what we do... if there is potential of a life to save," Fedor said. Joaquin's slow-moving path battered parts of the Bahamas, cutting communication to several islands, most of them lightly populated. There have been no reports of fatalities or injuries, Capt. Stephen Russell, the director of the Bahamas National Emergency Management Agency told the Associated Press. Residents reached by relatives said they were "trapped in their homes, and reported feeling as if their structures were caving in," Russell added. "It's too dangerous to go outside because the flood waters are so high, so we ask that persons stay inside and try to go into the most secure place of their home." Joaquin was packing maximum sustained winds of 130 mph, the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami reported at the time El Faro disappeared.