Searchers find a crew member’s body inside a ship that overturned during a typhoon

Rescue crews have recovered one body from the overturned cargo ship Mariana near the Northern Mariana Islands, as the search continues for five remaining crew members who went missing when the vessel capsized during Super Typhoon Sinlaku last week.

U.S. Air Force divers deployed an underwater drone on Tuesday to search the interior of the overturned vessel, while divers from Japan’s coast guard conducted further examinations of the ship. Despite these efforts, the five other crew members remain unaccounted for.

“Coast Guard aircrews continue to search for the five missing crewmen and an orange 12-person life raft in the vicinity of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands,” the U.S. Coast Guard stated in a news release.

The multinational search operation has been extensive, with teams from the United States, Guam, Japan, and New Zealand covering more than 99,000 square miles – an area roughly equivalent to the state of Oregon. Searchers are holding onto hope that the missing crew members may have reached a life raft.

Super Typhoon Sinlaku, which has been classified as the strongest tropical cyclone of the year so far, battered the Northern Mariana Islands with sustained winds reaching 150 mph (241 kph) when it made landfall last week. The U.S. territory, located north of Guam in the western Pacific, bore the brunt of the powerful storm system.

The maritime emergency began on April 15 when the U.S.-registered vessel reported to the Coast Guard that it had lost its starboard engine during the typhoon and required assistance. Communications with the ship were lost the following day as weather conditions deteriorated.

“Our hearts are with the families of the Mariana crew members and the communities impacted by this tragic incident,” said Commander Preston Hieb, the search and rescue mission coordinator for the Coast Guard Oceania District.

Initial search efforts were hampered by the typhoon’s powerful winds, but the overturned vessel was eventually located on Saturday, approximately 40 miles (64 kilometers) northeast of Pagan, one of the islands in the Northern Marianas chain.

On Monday, search teams spotted debris including a partially submerged inflatable life raft about 110 miles (177 kilometers) from the ship’s location. This discovery has raised questions about whether the raft belongs to the Mariana or possibly came from another vessel affected by the typhoon.

While specific safety requirements for the 145-foot (44-meter) cargo ship remain unclear, federal and international maritime codes mandate that such vessels carry life rafts equipped with food and water supplies. According to the International Maritime Organization’s standards, these rafts must be able to sustain occupants for up to 30 days.

Aaron Davenport, a retired Coast Guard officer with search and rescue experience who is not involved in the current operation, noted the significant challenges the crew would have faced in deploying a life raft during typhoon conditions.

“If they didn’t hook it somewhere and they just deployed it into the water, it would probably blow away,” Davenport explained. He also questioned whether searchers had located additional safety equipment aboard the overturned ship, which could provide crucial information about survival possibilities.

“That would determine how long they need to search. Because if they have safety gear, if they’re in another life raft or if they’re in a survival suit or if they even have a life jacket — that tells me that they’re going to survive longer, probably,” he said.

Davenport also raised the possibility that the partially submerged raft found by searchers might not be from the Mariana. “If there’s another ship that was affected by the weather there, they could have a life raft get washed off the top,” he suggested.

Meanwhile, the Northern Mariana Islands are beginning their recovery from Sinlaku’s devastation. The powerful storm caused extensive wind damage and flooding across the territory. Island ports have reopened to commercial traffic this week, and the Coast Guard has delivered essential supplies, including pallets of water, to communities that had been isolated by the typhoon.

As the search operation enters its second week, rescue teams remain committed to locating the missing crew members, while affected communities throughout the Northern Mariana Islands continue their efforts to rebuild in the aftermath of the destructive typhoon.