Dramatic rescue operation underway to save 4 trapped inside capsized cargo vessel (PHOTO, VIDEO)

The US Coast Guard has confirmed that four missing crew of the Golden Ray are alive and has launched a rescue operation to retrieve the men, trapped inside the cargo ship that caught fire and capsized off the coast of Georgia.

Rescuers made contact with the missing crew members on Monday morning, and are developing an “extraction plan,” the Coast Guard said in a series of tweets, adding“this is a slow, safe process.”

Three of the crewmen were brought to safety soon after the rescue got underway, with the fourth still trapped behind glass in an engineering control room without access to food or water. The Coast Guard said the three crewmen freed were in “relatively good” condition.

Prior to the rescue mission, the Coast Guard first drilled holes in the vessel to deliver supplies to the trapped seamen, the agency said.

The Coast Guard also released footage of the rescue effort in its early stages, in which workers can be seen on the exposed hull of the capsized merchant vessel.

Salvage crews could also be seen assessing the ship’s hull for “possible entry” in another Coast Guard clip posted earlier on Monday morning.

READMORE: Four missing, 20 rescued after cargo ship capsizes off Georgia coast

The Golden Ray, a 656-foot vehicle carrier operated for the Korean manufacturer Hyundai, capsized on Sunday after a massive fire erupted on board, forcing its crew to abandon ship. Twenty crew members were rescued after the accident, but four remained trapped inside, unaccounted for until Monday morning. Several were injured in the accident, the cause of which is still under investigation.

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