11,000 sign petition to up the search for the missing El Faro
A petition to get the federal government to up its search for the missing El Faro boxship has already got more than 11,000 signatures. The 40-year-old ship is believed to have sunk on October 1 near the Bahamas as its engine gave way with Hurricane Joaquin barrelling through the region with winds in excess of 200 kmh.
While the US Navy has dispatched one ship this week on behalf of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), the focus of that vessel’s mission is to try and track down the ship’s voyage data recorder (VDR), before the batteries of the VDR run out.
Families of the 33 missing crewmembers of the El Faro want to relaunch a more extensive effort to find the vessel, and its life boats, and the bodies of their loved ones.