Greek Freighter Sinks After Crew Gives Up Effort to Halt Flooding

HONOLULU — A 600-foot Greek freighter sank in the Pacific with a load of scrap metal early Sunday after its 28 crewmen gave up a two-day fight to pump seawater out of its hold and abandoned ship, the Coast Guard said.

The Vulca went down 800 miles northeast of Hawaii.

The crewmen were evacuated to the Coast Guard vessel Sassafras on Saturday when malfunctioning pumps failed to keep ahead of the flooding that made the bow dip below the waterline, officials said.

Three Coast Guard rescuers and half of the crew who had stayed aboard to try to save the ship abandoned the vessel Saturday night.

The cause of the flooding was not determined before the freighter went down.

There was no immediate estimate of the value of the ship and its cargo.

Crewmen had used pumps dropped from Coast Guard planes in an effort to keep the vessel afloat until a commercial salvage ship from Honolulu could reach the scene today, said Coast Guard Chief Petty Officer Dennis Hubbard.