Six Americans have been held in a Honduran jail for more than three weeks after authorities charged them with illegal weapons possession.

The group was arrested on May 5 during an expedition to salvage goods from the sea floor off the coast of Honduras when police boarded and confiscated their ship, according to a Facebook statement from Aqua Quest, the company for whom the team works. Aqua Quest searches for lost cargo and artifacts from sunken ships. The team was working in cooperation with a local town, CNN reported.

According to CNN, the crew is being charged with illegal possession of firearms detrimental to Honduras' internal security. One of the weapons found was a semiautomatic firearm, which has the authorities in a tizzy.

A lawyer in Honduras said the crew could be facing a sentence of 16 years in prison.

The company alleges that the Honduran authorities have acted unlawfully in their arrests and circumvented the legal system. Aqua Quest said police could have still dealt with the weapons situation without having to arrest the crew.

Robert Mayne, one of the detained Americans, said that the crew had weapons aboard the vessel to use as protection in case a pirate attack.

"It's suicide not to carry them," Mayne said from jail.

After meeting with the detainees, Michael McCabe, a crewmember who wasn't arrested, said they do not have access to adequate sanitation, and the authorities have not been feeding them.

"The inmates only ever eat beans and rice. I'm told it's one spoon of each, and that's it," McCabe said.

Noel Clay, a State Department spokesman, confirmed the situation Saturday and said "There is no greater priority for us than the welfare and safety of U.S. citizens abroad."

U.S. Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick, R-Penn., has been using his bureaucratic authority to get the detainees released.

"I have been working with American officials and other contacts to expedite the detainees' release. I have formally written to the Honduran Ambassador to the United States requesting his personal engagement to swiftly resolve the situation," he said in a statement.

Consular officials from the U.S. Embassy in Tegucigalpa, who have been providing consular assistance, last visited the men on May 19.

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