Overturned ship’s missing crew are alive, Coast Guard says

The U.S. Coast Guard said Monday rescuers drilled through the hull of an overturned cargo ship off the coast of Georgia and made contact with four missing crew members stuck inside. Lieutenant Lloyd Heflin told The Associated Press that the contact came Monday morning after rescuers rappelled down the side of the ship.

“The early indication is they are on board and OK,” Heflin said. He said the initial rescue team has faced a language barrier in communicating with the South Korean crew members.

Heflin said rescuers were trying to figure out the safest way of getting them out. The Golden Ray flipped onto its side and caught fire Sunday as it left the Port of Brunswick with more than 4,000 vehicles inside.

20 safely rescued on Sunday

Coast Guard Captain John Reed had said 20 were safely evacuated from the ship before rescuers determined the smoke and flames and unstable cargo made it too risky to venture further inside. The 656-foot vehicle carrier was stuck in St. Simons Sound, its hull exposed and its deck empty, in view of beachgoers on the shoreline.

Onshore, crowds gathered to watch the Coast Guard operation. “To see it on its side, it was just so big, so surprising, and there’s just a huge crowd down here,” a woman told CBS affiliate WJAX-TV.