SIGNS OF LIFE

Coast Guard: All Crew Members of Overturned Ship Off Georgia Coast Rescued

The U.S. Coast Guard said the fourth crew member seemed to be in good medical condition hours after three others were taken out of the ship.

The U.S. Coast Guard said all four crew members who went missing after a cargo ship overturned and caught fire off the Georgia coast early Sunday have been rescued. According to the Associated Press, the fourth crew member was rescued just before 6 p.m. on Monday, hours after the three others were successfully extracted from the ship. Lt. Lloyd Heflin said the fourth crew member appeared to be in good condition, but was being further evaluated. Earlier, the Coast Guard’s 7th District Southeast said the four crew members of the Golden Ray are alive but their conditions were “unknown.”

A rescue team heard tapping noises from the ship after it had rolled over on its side in St. Simons Sound early Sunday with a pilot and 23 crew members on board. Twenty of the crew were safely evacuated from the ship, but flames and smoke had prevented rescuers from going in to find the remaining four people.

On Sunday, Coast Guard Station Brunswick Commander Justin Irwin told The Brunswick News that tapping was heard from inside the vessel and that Coast Guard members were tapping back. “We don’t know if it is all four of them, but there has to be something in there tapping back at us,” Irwin said. Petty Officer 3rd class Ryan Dickinson added Monday morning that the Coast Guard rescue team “can’t confirm that it’s signs of life ... but they did hear sounds.”