Hagatna, Guam — The US Coast Guard was searching for six people after they lost contact with their disabled boat off the coast of Guam Typhoon Sinlaku.
The crew of the 145-foot (44-meter) dry cargo ship, named Mariana, notified the Coast Guard on April 15 that the boat had lost its starboard engine and needed assistance, Private 3rd Class Avery Tibbetts said early Saturday morning.
But communications with the ship were lost on the afternoon of April 16 and a Coast Guard HC-130 Hercules aircraft was launched to search for the six people on board.
The plane had to return to Guam due to high winds, but search efforts are expected to resume at first light, Tibbets said.
Powerful Typhoon Sinlaku began battering the Northern Mariana Islands earlier this week, causing damage on the islands of Tinian and Saipan and flash flooding in Guam, the site of several U.S. military bases.
FEMA and several other federal agencies are ramping up their response to Hurricane Sinlaku as dangerous weather conditions ease and shelter-in-place orders on the islands begin to lift, Robert Fenton, FEMA’s regional administrator for Region 9, which includes Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands, said Friday.