NEW YORK -- A Colombian cargo plane that floated in the Atlantic Ocean for three days as rescuers searched for four missing men sank Monday, officials said.
A Coast Guard spokesman said no bodies were spotted as the Hercules C-130 slipped under the rough water. The Coast Guard's rescue efforts were immediately called off, he said.
Earlier in the day, rescuers ruled out hope the four were alive inside the partly submerged plane. Coast Guard spokesman Gregory Creedon said examination of the craft disclosed it was being kept afloat by empty fuel tanks on its wings, not by an air bubble inside the craft.
'Close examination of the wreck leads us to believe there is no one inside,' Creedon said.
He said at 5:11 p.m. EDT 'the plane rolled over and went right to the bottom. It sank in 12,000 feet of water.'
Creedon said no bodies were sighted and very little debris was left behind by the crippled aircraft.
'There was just a light oil sheen,' he said.
A fifth man was spotted clinging briefly to a wing of the plane on Saturday, but he disappeared moments later. He was listed as missing.
The Coast Guard had tried since the plane ditched about 180 miles off the New Jersey coast to locate the four men, but winds up to 40 knots and waves as high as 12 feet kept rescuers at a distance.
Thirteen people were aboard the plane when it ran out of fuel and ditched about 2:30 p.m. EDT Saturday. Eight crewmembers were rescued by a nearby Liberian registered tanker, the Corner Brook.
Two of those were rushed to Portsmouth Naval Hospital in Portsmouth, Va., and reported in stable condition. They were identified as Capt. Hector Contreras and Technician First Class Gordillo Jilberto.
In Washington, the Colombian air attache, Brig. Gen. Gilberto Franco said the six survivors aboard the Corner Brook were Brig. Gen. Alfredo Ortega, Lt. Col. Louis Restrepo, Lt. Col. Louis Mera, Lt. Cesar Bermudez, chief technician Osorio (no first name available) and technician Ricardo Quintro.
The six crewman arrived Monday at a Canadian Coast Guard station near Halifax, Nova Scotia. They were not in need of medical attention, officials said.
Franco identified the five missing men as Col. Abraham Jaramillo, Lt. Col. Armando Alba, Maj. Fernando Rodrigues, technician Jesus Rodriguez and Peter Charria, a reporter for Colombian Caracol radio news network.
Officials said the plane had taken off from the Azores Islands and was headed to Bermuda when its navigational system apparently failed.
The pilot appeared to be headed for the American mainland when he ran out of fuel, radioed for help and then ditched near the tanker, officials said.
