CLEARWATER, Fla. -- Before the sun came up Tuesday, First Coast News anchor Heather Crawford and photographer Josh Whitston boarded a C-130 at Coast Guard Air Station Clearwater, joining its seven-member crew on a mission to find El Faro survivors.
"We are going to head to the Bahamas once again. Our search pattern today takes us approximately 84 miles north of Provo," the plane's pilot, Lt. Coletun Frank said.
About two hours into the flight, the C-130 reached a debris field the crew was tasked to search.
Flying low and slow, the crew opened the back door of the aircraft and two drop masters peered from a ramp for hours, searching the vast sea below while a third person watched monitors showing what the plane's cameras were picking up. A fourth crew member paid close attention to the radar, looking for signs of any objects in the water.
"We found opening up the back of the aircraft, especially for a person in water search, the crew members have an excellent view when they are on the back ramp -- especially around 500 feet," Lt. Frank explained.
Everyone on board the C-130 looked for anything that could be from El Faro and any trace of its 33 crew members lost at sea. The Coast Guard suspects the ship sank 15,000 feet into the Atlantic when it got caught in Hurricane Joaquin.
"The problem with this is Hurricane Joaquin sat over the Bahamas and literally stirred up anything not attached to he ground, so we are having to sift our way through not only anything that came from land, but debris from the ship itself," said Frank.
Looking specifically for objects carrying rescue colors, such as orange and yellow, the crew spotted what appeared to be a survival suit floating in the water. Of the 46 such suits on board El Faro, only a handful have been found.
"It was the right color," Lt. Frank said. "We passed this position off to the cutter, which was nearby."
Northeast of El Faro's last known location, the crew spotted a field of debris. They found what appeared to be a container. A small white speck was initially thought to be a deflated raft, but the crew later ruled that out.
"So far since we've been out here, we've found a scattered debris field about 20 miles by 10 miles long. Multiple objects in the water floating -- coolers, cooler lids and other unidentified debris," said crew member Jude Costello.
From the flight deck and the back of the plane, the crew also spotted what appeared to be a life jacket and marked it for a nearby cutter to check out.
"Emotionally, it's straining because we are flying back to back. I'd say flight crews have been very proactive in volunteering extra hours and flying as hard best we can," said Frank.
Cutters were continuing their search overnight, while additional air crews are set to start searching at first light on Wednesday.
