Need help with a tactical problem

[Schone23666]

So I am busy, or trying to be busy (LOL) writing fiction....and I have a segment where my designated "heroes" have to board and search a damaged vessel in a harbor, that's supposedly deserted (it's not) and is listing after suffering damage from an explosion in the boiler room area. The mission is to search the captain's quarters for any clues or manifest in regards to a high-value cargo that may still be down within the cargo interior hold of the ship.

The time is roughly late morning. It's the middle of winter though, and a heavy blizzard is blowing in, making visibility a problem. A fire had broken out earlier last night from the boiler room explosion, but has been put out by the local coast guard

Two sniper overwatch teams have been assigned and are monitoring the exterior of the ship from different, but not opposing angles. Helicopter gunship support is also standing by in case anything should go wrong and matters get EXTREMELY hairy. However, as stated visibility is a problem due to the snow. Let's just say this mission is in a more supernatural horror kind of vein.

But anyway....thoughts and opinions on how entering and searching the, or any sort of cargo ship should go about? My first impression is, well, mostly metal interior as opposed to a typical residential/office building, so ricochets from bullets and shrapnel might be a bigger problem, plus sound reverberation from any automatic weapons fire will probably be a bit more deafening on the ears. Having any sort of explosive or concussive device that creates overpressure in a ship's steel interior is gonna be real nasty too. And then there's the environment itself. All those narrow corridors and corners with sealed hatches that have to be accessed. Doors are always a problem in MOUT, but I'm thinking steel pressure hatches are a bit more challenge.

Oh, and just to add to it....the interior is barely lit as the power has gone out and only the ship's emergency lighting is on. And there are possible friendlies inside the ship as well....in the form of two police detectives who decided to board the ship first since it's under their jurisdiction, and there MAY be at least one if not several containers full of Russian mail-order "brides" that are meant to be sold off to slavers, but it's unknown if any of these women are still alive or if they've possibly frozen to death (or worse. This is a supernatural horror setting). There also happens to be several containers that are stacked full of WarPac weapons, that were also meant to be sold to an undisclosed buyer, but that's not quite the high-value cargo the heroes are looking for....

How does one deal with all this? Though I'm sure any naval special operations forces or boarding teams (SBS, SEALS, FAST, etc.) practice for situations involving the boarding and searching of ships fairly often. Any thoughts or suggestions?