(Reuters) -The U.S. Coast Guard on Monday was set to call off a week-long search for the remaining eight people missing after a commercial lift boat used to service oil rigs capsized in hurricane force winds south of Louisiana’s Port Fourchon.
The search will end at sunset on Monday, the U.S. Coast Guard announced at a midday news briefing.
A total of 19 people were on board when the 129-foot (39-m) commercial vessel, Seacor Power, went over in rough seas in the Gulf of Mexico, eight miles (13 km) off Port Fourchon about 4:30 p.m. (2130 GMT) last Tuesday, April 13.
Six people had been rescued, five bodies were recovered and a search for the remaining eight will continue on Monday until sunset, the Coast Guard said.
At the time of the accident, winds were about 80 miles per hour (129 km per hour) to 90 mph in 7- to 9-foot (2.74 m) seas.
Of the survivors, two people were rescued by the Coast Guard and four others were pulled from the water by other vessels.
For nearly a week, rescuers in Coast Guard cutters, aircraft and volunteer civilian boats have been hunting for the missing people.
A lift boat, also called a “jack barge,” has extendable 250-foot (76.2 m) legs that can reach the sea bottom. The vessel is often used by energy companies for offshore construction projects or to service oil rigs.
The vessel is owned by Seacor Marine, a transportation company based in Houston.
(Reporting by Barbara Goldberg in New York; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Bill Berkrot)
