Another group of El Faro victims’ families reached legal settlements with the sunken cargo ship’s owner Tote Maritime, it was announced on Monday.
The latest quartet of families takes to 18 the total to have settled their wrongful death suits.
As with previous settlements the amount was $500,000 per family.
All 33 crew members of the El Faro were lost when the ship, carrying cars from Jacksonville, Florida, to San Juan, Puerto Rico, was caught in Hurricane Joaquin off the Bahamas on October 1.
The wreckage was found 15,000 feet down on the ocean floor in November but an attempt to find the vessel data recorder (VDR) failed.
On Monday a second attempt to find the VDR was scheduled to begin but it was delayed because of maintenance issues with the research vessel Atlantis. The ship departed from Charleston, South Carolina but had to return to port because of the maintenance issue, which was not specified.
