The VDR will be examined at sea by NTSB investigators aboard the USNS Apache to assess the condition of the device and to ensure proper preservation for further examination ashore. The VDR will later be transported to the NTSB’s lab in Washington, D.C. VDRs typically contain 12 hours of recording so the hope is that this device will provide additional insight into the El Faro's final hours.
According to CNN, the U.S. Coast Guard Marine Board of Investigation is trying to determine whether commercial pressure, negligence in cargo security, or poor safety culture had anything to do with the accident. A marine board investigation is the Coast Guard's highest level probe. It's the first such investigation held since the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon, which killed 11 crew members in 2010.
For more information about the investigation, click to the NTSB's El Faro webpage.
Wednesday, August 10, 2016 - 13:02
The 740-foot SS El Faro sank off Crooked Island in the Bahamas on October 1, 2015 after losing propulsion and sailing into the center of Hurricane Joaquin during a voyage from Jacksonville, Florida to San Juan, Puerto Rico. All 33 people on board perished in the sinking.
Now the ship's voyage data recorder has been recovered after 10 months of searching for and documenting the wreckage. Three separate missions costing a total of $3 million have been undertaken at the wreck site.
https://youtu.be/q3h8HbloK0o
“The recovery of the recorder has the potential to give our investigators greater insight into the incredible challenges that the El Faro crew faced,” said NTSB Chairman Christopher A. Hart, “but it’s just one component of a very complex investigation. There is still a great deal of work to be done in order to understand how the many factors converged that led to the sinking and the tragic loss of 33 lives.”
The USNS Apache departed Virginia Beach, VA, Friday August 5 with personnel from the NTSB, the U.S. Coast Guard, the U.S. Navy, and Phoenix International to retrieve the recorder. Once at the wreck site on Monday, search crews maneuvered CURV-21, a deep ocean remotely operated underwater vehicle, to the VDR’s known location at a depth of about 15,000 feet. Specialized tools were then used to extricate the VDR capsule from the mast structure to which it was attached.
The VDR will be examined at sea by NTSB investigators aboard the USNS Apache to assess the condition of the device and to ensure proper preservation for further examination ashore. The VDR will later be transported to the NTSB’s lab in Washington, D.C. VDRs typically contain 12 hours of recording so the hope is that this device will provide additional insight into the El Faro's final hours.
According to CNN, the U.S. Coast Guard Marine Board of Investigation is trying to determine whether commercial pressure, negligence in cargo security, or poor safety culture had anything to do with the accident. A marine board investigation is the Coast Guard's highest level probe. It's the first such investigation held since the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon, which killed 11 crew members in 2010.
For more information about the investigation, click to the NTSB's El Faro webpage.
The VDR will be examined at sea by NTSB investigators aboard the USNS Apache to assess the condition of the device and to ensure proper preservation for further examination ashore. The VDR will later be transported to the NTSB’s lab in Washington, D.C. VDRs typically contain 12 hours of recording so the hope is that this device will provide additional insight into the El Faro's final hours.
According to CNN, the U.S. Coast Guard Marine Board of Investigation is trying to determine whether commercial pressure, negligence in cargo security, or poor safety culture had anything to do with the accident. A marine board investigation is the Coast Guard's highest level probe. It's the first such investigation held since the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon, which killed 11 crew members in 2010.
For more information about the investigation, click to the NTSB's El Faro webpage.