NATION : Ship Capsizes; 6 Survivors Spotted

NEW YORK — A 500-foot British cargo ship carrying 25 people capsized in foul weather today and apparently sank in the Atlantic Ocean, officials said. Coast Guard pilots spotted only six survivors in one life raft.

“There are 19 people unaccounted for at this time,” Petty Officer Randy Midgett said from the Coast Guard station on Governors Island in New York Harbor, where the rescue effort was being coordinated.

An emergency Mayday signal was picked up by Coast Guard radios at 9:05 a.m., indicating that the cargo ship Star of Alexandria was taking on water about 400 miles southeast of Cape Cod, Midgett said.

Two Coast Guard planes were sent to the scene, he said. The pilot of the jet reported seeing the ship listing badly and said it was sinking as passengers abandoned ship for life rafts.

“She was going down, and going down fast,” Midgett said.