The US Coast Guard (USCG) announced on Wednesday that its Marine Board of Investigation (MBI) has completed its review of the transcripts from February’s first round of hearings into the sinking of the El Faro cargo ship.
The El Faro went down off the Bahamas on October 1, 2015, with the loss of all 33 crew members after being caught in Hurricane Joaquin.
So far the MBI has held two hearings in Jacksonville, Florida, the port city from which the El Faro departed on its ill-fated journey delivering mostly cars to San Juan, Puerto Rico.
The ship’s wreckage was found on the ocean floor in November, its voyage data recorder (VDR) was located in April this year and that VDR was recovered in August.
A transcript of the just-reviewed first round of hearings is available online.
February’s hearing considered El Faro’s history of pre-accident events, crew members’ duties and qualifications and the USCG’s search and rescue efforts.
May’s second round of hearings focused on shipboard operations, cargo loading, lashing and stowage, the vessel’s stability, weather forecasts and actual weather conditions at the time of the disaster.
A third and final hearing, expected to be held this winter, will examine additional elements of the investigation including information gleaned from the VDR.
That, says USCG, will end MBI’s fact-finding phase, after which it will move on to the analysis phase. At that point it will be working independently from the National Transportation Safety Board’s (NTSB) concurrent investigation.
After that analysis MBI will compile a report of its investigation which will be submitted to the Commandant of the Coast Guard who will then make a decision on safety recommendations.
