PORT FOURCHON, La. 鈥� Coast Guard boats and aircraft have covered an area larger than the state of Rhode Island to search for 12 people still missing Wednesday off the Louisiana coast after their offshore oilfield vessel capsized in hurricane-force winds.
One worker's body was recovered Wednesday and six people were rescued Tuesday after the Seacor Power overturned Tuesday afternoon in the Gulf of Mexico, the Coast Guard said.
The search, interrupted by darkness and bad weather, has
Coast Guard Capt. Will Watson said earlier that winds were 80 to 90 mph (130 to 145 kph) and waves rose 7 to 9 feet high (2.1 to 2.7
鈥淭hat鈥檚 challenging under any circumstance,鈥� Watson said. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 know the degree to which that contributed to what happened, but we do know those are challenging conditions to be out in the maritime environment.鈥�
The bulky vessel, also called a jackup rig because it has three long legs it can lower to the sea floor to lift the boat out of the water as an offshore platform, flipped over Tuesday afternoon south of Port Fourchon, a major base for the U.S. oil and gas industry.
One worker was found dead on the surface of the water, Watson said at a news conference Wednesday. Asked about the missing workers' prospects, he said, 鈥淲e are hopeful. We can鈥檛 do this work if you鈥檙e not optimistic, if you鈥檙e not hopeful.鈥�
Divers were heading to the local area Wednesday afternoon, Coast Guard spokesman Petty Officer John Micheli said.
Numerous other agencies helped with the search.
Marion Cuyler, the fianc茅e of crane operator Chaz Morales, was waiting with family of other missing workers at a Port Fourchon fire station near a landing site where helicopters were coming and going. She said she talked to her fianc茅 before he left Tuesday.
鈥淗e said that they were jacking down and they were about to head out, and I鈥檓 like, 鈥楾he weather鈥檚 too bad. You need to come home.鈥� And he鈥檚 like, 鈥業 wish I could.鈥欌��
The relationship of those on board to owner Seacor Marine was not immediately clear. The boat, capable of working in up to 195 feet (nearly 60
鈥淲e are deeply saddened by the news of the vessel capsizing and are working closely with the U.S. Coast Guard and local authorities to support all efforts to locate our valued team members and partners,鈥� the Houston-based company said in a statement.
Watson said the Coast Guard is investigating what part the harsh weather played in the accident. The vessel left Port Fourchon at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, bound for Main Pass off the southeast Louisiana coast, he said.
鈥淲e did have some weather reports yesterday that there would be some challenging weather. But this level of weather was not necessarily anticipated,鈥� he said.
The National Weather Service in New Orleans issued a special marine warning before 4 p.m. Tuesday that predicted steep waves and winds greater than 50 knots (58 mph).
The Coast Guard received a distress message from a good Samaritan at 4:30 p.m. and issued an urgent marine broadcast that prompted multiple private vessels in the area to respond, saving four people, the agency said. Coast Guard crews rescued another two people.
At one point, video showed the boat 鈥� 129 feet (39
Although the Coast Guard said the lift boat capsized during a microburst, a National Weather Service meteorologist said the system was more like an offshore derecho 鈥� or straight winds storm.
鈥淭his was not a microburst -- just a broad straight-line wind event that swept over a huge area,鈥� Phil Grigsby said.
He said the weather service's nearest official gauge, at Grand Isle, showed about 30 minutes of 75 mph (120 km/h) winds, followed by hours of winds over 50 mph (80 km/h).
The initial storm system was followed by a low-pressure system called a wake low, which amplified the winds and made them last longer, Grigsby said.
鈥淚t was the strongest wake low I've seen in almost 18 years here,鈥� he said.
Shrimp boat captain Aaron Callais said the bad weather started with small, quickly dissipating waterspouts that buffeted his father's boat, the Ramblin鈥� Cajun.
鈥淭here was nothing we could do. One minute we were facing north, the next south, then east and west,鈥� he said. "Things were flying in the cabin.'
Callais posted video on Facebook of wind battering the boat as he talked on the boat's satellite phone to friends and family, including his dad, 鈥渓etting him know the situation, that it wasn鈥檛 looking good. We didn鈥檛 know if we were going to make it out.鈥�
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The length of the capsized vessel has been corrected; it has a beam of 129 feet, not 265 feet.
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Associated Press writer Janet McConnaughey contributed to this report from New Orleans. McGill reported from New Orleans and Martin reported from Marietta, Georgia.
Stacey Plaisance, Kevin McGill And Jeff Martin, The Associated Press
