HAMILTON, Bermuda, Oct 03 2015 – Powerful Hurricane Joaquin headed toward Bermuda on Saturday after hammering the Bahamas and leaving a cargo ship with 33 mostly American crew members missing in its wake.
At 17:00, Joaquin, which strengthened significantly early Saturday, had maximum sustained winds of 150 miles (240 km) per hour, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.
The storm, a potentially catastrophic Category 4 on a scale of 1 to 5, was about 500 miles (805 km) southwest of Bermuda, the Miami-based NHC said.
It swirled away from the Bahamas early Saturday, after slamming parts of the archipelago for more than two days. The storm was expected to pass west of Bermuda, well off the U.S. coastline, on Sunday, before heading on a north-northeast track taking it further out to sea.
Any slight eastward deviation in the forecast track could put Joaquin dangerously close to Bermuda, however, the NHC warned.
The U.S. Coast Guard said there was still no trace on Saturday of El Faro, a 735-foot (224-m) cargo ship that went missing off Crooked Island in the Bahamas on Thursday morning after it was overcome by heavy weather from Joaquin.
The vessel, with 28 U.S. citizens and five Polish nationals aboard, was headed to San Juan, Puerto Rico, from Jacksonville, Florida when it reported losing propulsion and that it was listing and taking on water, the Coast Guard said.
There had been no further communications after a distress call received at about 7:30 Thursday, the Coast Guard said. Search and rescue efforts continued Saturday, after covering 850 square nautical miles on Friday, but turned up no sign of the U.S.-flagged ship.
