PORT FOURCHON, La. — Federal regulators have released a draft report detailing the fatal capsizing of the Seacor Power liftboat in the Gulf of Mexico last month.
While the initial report from the National Transportation Safety Board doesn't shed much new light on the fate of the 175-foot long mobile platform, it does provide a deeper look at the conditions faced by the 19 crew members onboard when it sank on April 13.
According to the NTSB's report, prior weather information put the wind at 7-9 knots in the gulf that afternoon. But quickly moving severe weather exceeded expectations, with winds as high as 40 knots (1 knot is approximately 1.1 mph).
The Power's captain tried to lower the ship's three stilt legs -- which at the time were raised about 50 feet above the deck -- in order to steady it in the wind. But the move came too late, and the Power capsized, flipping with 19 people on board.
Six seamen were rescued, and the bodies of six others were found by searchers in the days after the Power capsized, including the body of the ship's captain. But seven remain missing more than a month later, despite dive teams searching inside the submerged vessel in a days-long effort to locate them.
At least one lawsuit has been filed against Seacor in the wake of the tragedy, accusing the company of putting cash before lives.
The wife of a crewmember presumed dead in the capsizing filed it, accusing the ship's owners of violating federal maritime law and gross negligence.
Hannah Daspit, whose husband Dylan Daspit is still missing, claims the vessel sailed despite a warning of tropical storm force winds as well as high waves in the Gulf of Mexico.
The lawsuit accuses Seacor of "putting money over the safety and lives of the men onboard."
Daspit is seeking more than $25 million in damages in the lawsuit.
A hardhat that belonged to another of the missing men washed up on a Texas beach earlier this month, about 600 miles from the Seacor's resting place.
Rescue efforts were complicated by the high winds and 10-12 foot waves that day and in the week after.
Now, as the NTSB continues their investigation, retrieval crews are attempting to salvage the shipwreck and bring the Power back to shore so investigators can examine in more detail what happened in its final moments.
Salvage crews remove fuel from Seacor Power
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