Second crew member is found dead and 11 remain missing from 129-foot liftboat that capsized off Louisiana coast as Coast Guard carries out last-ditch rescue effort
A second crew member has been confirmed dead and 11 remain missing from a capsized liftboat off Louisiana, as the Coast Guard undertakes a last-ditch rescue attempt to locate any survivors who could be trapped inside the vessel.
The body was found on Friday about 33 miles from the overturned Seacor Power, the Coast Guard told families of the missing men. It follows confirmation that Captain David Ledet was killed in the disaster.
Lafourche Parish Coroner John King confirmed that the body was found in the water, not the vessel, NOLA.com reported. King was not releasing the identity of the deceased because he has not spoken with the family.
Divers searching for the missing oil industry workers hoped to enter the overturned vessel on Friday, a rescue effort complicated by daunting technical challenges and continued bad weather.
The hope is that the missing men may have found air pockets to survive inside the Seacor Power, most of which is submerged in 50-foot seas about eight miles off the Louisiana coast.
'As long as the weather permits, the divers will try to gain to access to the vessel. That is the ultimate goal,' Coast Guard spokesman Carlos Galarza said early Friday.
Divers searching for the missing oil industry workers prepared to enter the overturned oil drilling vessel Seacor Power on Friday, a rescue effort complicated by daunting technical challenges and continued bad weather
The Coast Guard uses a thermal imaging scanner to search for any signs of life in the capsized Seacor Power
Captain David Ledet, 63, (left) was confirmed dead in the Seacor Power boat disaster and Gregory Walcott, 62, (right) remained among the missing on Friday as the Coast Guard prepared a last-ditch rescue attempt
Missing crew member Dylan Daspit is seen with wife Hannah Coleman Daspit. Two crew members are confirmed dead and more are missing from the commercial vessel that capsized Tuesday near Port Fourchon with 19 people on board
Missing crew member Jay Guevara is seen left and right with fiancée Krista Vercher. Divers searching for the missing oil industry workers prepared to enter the overturned vessel on Friday
Missing crew member Quinon Pitre, 31. After the ship flipped over in hurricane-force winds on Tuesday, six crew members were rescued, and multiple were confirmed dead
Coast Guard divers returned to the scene at 7.50am Friday to conduct an assessment and began dive operations.
The dive team had to resurface mid-morning due to dangerous weather conditions, but resumed diving again around 1.30pm Friday. The Coast Guard did not report any findings aside from the second body.
Steven Walcott, whose brother Gregory Walcott was on the capsized boat, told AP that the Coast Guard told family members about the second body during a briefing Friday. 'Right now, we're hoping for a miracle,' Steven Walcott said.
Dawn Saddler, sister of Gregory Walcott, said families were told during a meeting with Coast Guard officials that divers did not get onto the boat Friday morning because of rough weather.
'They were supposed to go this morning,' she said. 'They're trying to find the right way to go in.'
The large housing structure above the deck of the lift boat will likely pose significant challenges for divers, naval architect David Bourg said.
'Imagine if you take a four-story building with multiple rooms in it, turn it upside down and put it in the water and try to navigate it with a flashlight -- that's what you're looking at here,' said Bourg, who is also an adjunct professor at the University of New Orleans School of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering.
The Secor Power (left) is a mobile platform that can work in up to 195 feet of water with three extendible legs. The large housing structure above the deck of the lift boat will likely pose significant challenges for divers
Most of the Seacor Power, including the massive deckhouse, is submerged, and Coast Guard divers are holding out hope that men may still be trapped in air pockets inside the ship
People talk on a balcony at a fire station where family members of the men missing from a capsized oil industry vessel have been gathering on Thursday in Port Fourchon, La. The liftboat capsized in the Gulf of Mexico during a storm on Tuesday
After the ship flipped over in hurricane-force winds on Tuesday, six crew members were quickly rescued, and one was confirmed dead. On Friday another death was confirmed and 11 remained missing
Two of the missing men had been communicating with rescuers by VHF radio after the ungainly platform ship capsized.
They were spotted clinging to the overturned hull, but returned to seek shelter inside after a third man fell into the water and was lost. There have not been any signs of life since then, officials said.
Time is of the essence, because air pockets will eventually become depleted of oxygen, said Mauritius Bell, diving safety officer at the California Academy of Sciences.
Surviving could depend on the size of an air pocket. 'The larger the better, and it's all about time,' Bell said.
'It would be somewhat analogous to breathing in and out of a paper bag,' he added. 'At some point, it's not survivable.'
On Thursday, searchers knocked on the ship's hull without response.
'There is the potential they are still there, but we don't know,' Petty Officer 2nd Class Jonathan Lally said Thursday. 'We're still searching for 12 people because there are 12 still missing,' he added before the discovery of the second body.
Mother of missing crewman Chaz Morales shows a family photo of him with his children Valerie, Jaxon and Chaz Jr
Darra Ann Morales shows a photo of her son Chaz Morales, as his son Chaz Jr., 10, looks on at the family home in Slidell, Louisiana on Wednesday. Chaz Morales is one of the crew members missing from the capsized vessel Seacor Power
Marion Cuyler, fiancée of missing crew member Chaz Morales, talks on her cell phone at a fire station where family members of the people missing from a capsized oil industry vessel have been gathering in Port Fourchon
Marion Cuyler (left), fiancée of missing crew member Chaz Morales (right) is among the family members waiting desperately for news of their loved ones from the capsized Seacor Power
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