The U.S. Coast Guard has changed the search to a hunt for survivors after covering over 70,000 square miles. The USCG spokesman spokesman Mark Fedor commented “we believe it sank in the last known position on Thursday, Search for survivors continues.” They had recovered a life boat which had markings making it appear to belong to El Faro with “no signs of life there”, other life saving devices were also found with no survivors present. One person in survival suit was declared deceased and was not recovered at the time due to the fast moving mission to find survivors. The USCG spokesman Mark Fedor confirmed this further by reiterating, “We modified our search effort to focus on life saving.” He added, “We will hopefully find survivors, that is our focus.” The USCG now has 3 cutters, 3 tugs, as well as a full schedule of aircraft for today focusing on smaller objects at sea. When questioned about what conditions the crew would have been facing at the time of the incident, it was made clear that Joaquin at the time was a 4 hurricane and “challenging conditions to survive in” consisting of 50 foot seas and 144 mph winds. Vessels of this size are known to be easily capsized when confronted with heavy winds and rough seas, and this possiblity would be increased with the loss of power and flooding issues as reported in their final communications at 7:00 AM Thursday.