12 Missing in Gulf of Mexico Lift Vessel Incident

The U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) announced Wednesday that it had recovered one unresponsive person and that it was continuing to search for 12 missing people from a capsized commercial lift vessel eight miles south of Port Fourchon.

Rescue crews have so far searched more than 1,440 square miles during a combined search period of nearly 40 hours, the USCG revealed. The search area is larger than the state of Rhode Island, the USCG highlighted. Rescue assets involved in the search so far comprise the following;

• The pre-commissioned Coast Guard Cutter Glenn Harris crew
• The Coast Guard Cutter Amberjack crew
• The Coast Guard Air Station New Orleans MH-65 Dolphin helicopter crew
• The Coast Guard Station Grand Isle 45-foot RB-M boat crews
• Coast Guard Air Station Corpus Christi HC-144 Ocean Sentry airplane crews 
• Two Coast Guard Aviation Training Center Mobile HC-144 Ocean Sentry airplanes crews
• Two Coast Guard Air Station Clearwater HC-130 Hercules airplane crews
• Two Coast Guard Aviation Training Center Mobile MH-60 Jayhawk helicopters
• Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries crews
• The Port Fourchon Harbor Patrol
• The Lafourche Parish Sheriff’s Office
• Seven good Samaritan vessels
• One commercial air medical service crew

“Our rescue crews have been diligently continuing the search and rescue efforts for the missing people from the capsized vessel,” Captain Will Watson, the commander of Coast Guard Sector New Orleans, said in an organization statement.

“When it comes to search and rescue, each case is dynamic and no single case is the same as the next. Anytime our Coast Guard crews head out for search and rescue, it is always our hope to safely bring those people back and reunite them with their friends and families,” he added.

The USCG revealed Tuesday that it and multiple “good Samaritan vessels” had rescued six people from the capsized commercial lift vessel in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico. Several media outlets have reported that the lift vessel is Seacor Marine’s Seacor Power. Seacor Marine has not responded to an emailed request from Rigzone asking to confirm if the vessel involved in the incident is the Seacor Power.

To contact the author, email andreas.exarheas@rigzone.com