AmericasContainersOperations

Mission to recover El Faro’s VDR is postponed

The mission to recover the voyage data recorder (VDR) from sunken freighter El Faro has been postponed says the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).

When the NTSB announced the recovery mission a few weeks ago it was with a planned mission start of early July but now that has been put back to early August.

The reason given is that certain resources have not yet become available.

El Faro was caught in Hurricane Joaquin off the Bahamas on October 1, 2015, when it sank with the loss of all 33 crew members. It was carrying a cargo of cars from Jacksonville, Florida, to San Juan, Puerto Rico, when tragedy struck.

The wreckage was located in two main parts a month after the tragedy. But it took much longer, until late April 2016, to find the VDR which should contain navigation data and audio recordings that will help explain the disaster.

Already two hearings of the US Coast Guard (USCG) Marine Board of Investigation have been held into the sinking. A third and final hearing is expected but no date has yet been set as the recovered VDR could be important to such a hearing.

Donal Scully

With 28 years experience writing and editing for newspapers in the UK and Hong Kong, Donal is now based in California from where he covers the Americas for Splash as well as ensuring the site is loaded through the Western Hemisphere timezone.
Back to top button