Divers aim to reach capsized vessel in search for survivors

PORT FOURCHON, La. (AP) — As 12 people remained missing from a capsized oil industry vessel, Coast Guard divers waited for a break in stormy weather Thursday that would allow them to reach the hull and search for survivors.

Coast Guard Petty Officer 2nd Class Jonathan Lally said rescuers don’t know whether any of the missing might be caught inside the lift vessel that flipped over Tuesday in hurricane-force winds and high seas miles off the Louisiana coast.

“There is the potential they are still there, but we don’t know,” Lally said early Thursday. “We’re still searching for 12 people because there are 12 still missing.”

The Coast Guard expects the divers to make it to the vessel today, but the safety of the rescuers is also a factor, he said.

“With something like this, that is a vessel that is capsized with the potential of people trapped inside, there are a lot of dynamic aspects we have to look at,” Lally said.

“We don’t have a whole lot of information of where they are,” Lally added.

Six people from the Seacor Power were rescued alive and one person's body was recovered from the water Wednesday as searchers scanned an area larger than the state of Rhode Island.

Part of the overturned ship's hull and one of its legs were still visible, leaving most of the bulky vessel underwater. Also called a jackup rig, it has three long legs designed to reach the sea floor and lift it out of water as an offshore platform.

Authorities also plan to use all-terrain vehicles Thursday to search the shoreline near Port Fourchon, a major base for the U.S. oil and gas industry. Lafourche Parish President Archie P. Chaisson III said the sheriff’s office, harbor police and Homeland Security officers were looking for signs of life on the shore.

“There are...