coordinate search and rescue efforts in the sinking of freighter in the Atlantic Ocean. Harbour Radio received an emergency call at about 5.45 p.m. on Saturday night that the Marika 7 with 36 men on board had gone down in stormy seas, an officer said yesterday. "She was about 1,600 miles northeast of Bermuda,'' the officer said last night. "We helped coordinate the rescue effort and provided communications support after the (Canadian Coast Guard) was unsuccessful in diverting any ships to the scene. "We made emergency broadcasts and tried to get vessels in the area out to her as soon as possible. At this point one ship has diverted and another is on the way.'' The officer said it was a difficult job because the Liberian-registered ship, on her way from Quebec to the Netherlands, was in the middle of the Atlantic, halfway between North America and Europe. Everyone had abandoned ship by life raft or plunging into the 40-foot seas, he believed. The rescue was being coordinated by the Canadian Coast Guard from Halifax, he said. A wire report later said high winds and huge waves were hampering attempts yesterday to reach the 36 crew members from the freighter. But searchers still hoped to find survivors, Reuters said.

The tanker Freja Sveia was on the scene and two other commercial vessels and a US Coast Guard Hercules rescue plane were headed for the area to help in the search east of the Atlantic Canada province of Newfoundland.

Three life preservers were recovered in the area where the Marika 7 disappeared from radar screens on Saturday about 950 miles (1,500 km) east of Newfoundland, US Coast Guard spokesman Jeff Agnew said. None of the crew had been rescued.

Despite the storm, the relatively warm water meant that the crew, believed to be Greek and Filipino, could survive for several days in life rafts, he said.

"They could be picking up survivors anytime within the next three days,'' Mr.

Agnew said.

Agnew said waves in the area were rolling at more than 30 feet, whipped by winds of 30 to 40 knots. The water temperature was 57 degrees and the air 43.

The Marika 7 left Sept-Iles, Quebec, Monday carrying iron ore for European markets. It ran into a fierce winter storm in the North Atlantic.

The 900-foot bulk carrier, owned by a Greek-registered company called Atlantic Maritime, sent out distress signals early Saturday.

Two rescue planes reported seeing what they believed were life rafts in the water about 600 miles northwest of the Azores islands Saturday night but it was impossible to tell in the dark whether there was anyone in them.

"When the Hercules got there he found a bunch of lights bobbing in the water,'' Mr. Bob McAllister, another search and rescue official was quoted by the Canadian Press news agency as saying Saturday.

Mr. McAllister said the lights "could possibly come from life boats or from people in the water in emergency immersion suits.'' The Freja Sveia spotted some lights in the area late Saturday night but they turned out to be only life preservers, apparently from the freighter, with tiny strobe lights flashing.*l