NASSAU (Reuters) – The fate of more than 30 crew aboard a cargo ship missing off the Bahamas in heavy seas whipped up by Hurricane Joaquin was unknown yesterday as the powerful storm battered the island chain for a second day.
News the vessel had lost contact with shore came as forecasters shifted the likely track of the potentially catastrophic storm further away from the US East Coast, but there were still warnings about the possibility of severe flooding in the Carolinas from unrelated heavy rains.
In an advisory at 5 pm EDT (2100 GMT) yesterday, the US National Hurricane Center said Joaquin had weakened slightly to a Category 3 hurricane on a scale of 1 to 5, down from its previous Category 4 ranking.
