PORT FOURCHON, La. – Divers searching for oil industry workers on a capsized liftboat prepared to enter the overturned vessel on Friday, a rescue effort complicated by daunting technical challenges and continued bad weather.
The hope is that the 12 missing people have found air pockets to survive inside the Seacor Power, most of which is submerged in 50-foot seas about 8 miles (13 kilometers) 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. Two of the missing had been communicating with rescuers by VHF radio after the ungainly platform ship flipped over in hurricane-force winds on Tuesday.