Search called off in Carolina ammo ship fire

SOUTHPORT, North Carolina (CNN) -- The U.S. Coast Guard called off the search Sunday for a missing civilian crew member who apparently jumped from a ship laden with military ammunition that caught fire Saturday.

The man, Horace Beasily, 44, is missing and presumed dead, said Petty Officer Bill Barry, a spokesman with the Coast Guard's Atlantic Area Public Command in Portsmouth, Virginia. Beasily, of Gretna, Virginia, was a deck engine utility man, Barry said.

The fire killed Paul Powell, 36, an assistant engineer on board the Edward Carter, a 939-foot container ship that was carrying 5 million pounds of military ammunition. Powell was from St. Petersburg, Florida.

Both men were civilians, not with the Coast Guard, Barry said.

The fire, which broke out in the engine room, was contained Sunday, the Coast Guard said.

Representatives of the Marine Safety Office in Wilmington, North Carolina, have begun an investigation, the Coast Guard said.

The ship was docked at Sunny Point Military Ocean Terminal on the Cape Fear River in North Carolina. The home port of the Edward Carter is Norfolk, Virginia.

The ship was loading ammunition from another ship when the fire broke out. About 2,300 20-foot containers of ammunition were on board, according to The Associated Press.

Sunny Point handles worldwide shipment of Department of Defense ammunition, explosives and other dangerous cargo. It is the only DOD terminal equipped to handle containerized ammunition.