The search has resumed for a United States cargo ship that lost communications and went missing in the southeastern Bahamas during Hurricane Joaquin.

The 790ft El Faro, which has 33 people on board, was caught in the storm and last heard from on Thursday morning.

A single life ring was found yesterday as US Coast Guard, Navy and Air Force planes scoured an area of the sea near Crooked Island, where the vessel was passing when it was caught in Category 4 winds and waves.

Although Joaquin has since moved off and diminished in strength, the search has been complicated by continued high winds and poor visibility.

The ship had set out on September 29 from Jacksonville, Florida while Joaquin was still a Tropical Storm, with a crew of 28 Americans and five from Poland, on its usual cargo trip to Puerto Rico.

Its operating company, TOTE Maritime Puerto Rico, said the discovery of the life ring could help authorities narrow their search, adding that it was “in no way indicative of the ship’s fate”.