The United States Coast Guard (USCG) announced on Tuesday it has set dates for the start of public Marine Board of Investigation hearings into the loss of the cargo vessel El Faro and its 33 crew members off the Bahamas last October.
Hearings will run daily from Tuesday February 16 to Friday February 26 at the Prime F. Osborn Convention Center in Jacksonville, Florida.
The 735-foot, US-flagged El Far o was carrying a cargo of cars from Jacksonville to San Juan Puerto Rico on October 1, 2015, when it was caught up catastrophically in Hurricane Joaquin, losing engine power and going down with the loss of all crew comprising 28 US citizens and 5 Polish nationals.
Wreckage of the vessel was found a month later at the bottom of the ocean off the Bahamas, about 15,000 feet down, with the ship broken into two main sections.
According to the USCG announcement these first hearings will focus on the pre-accident historical events relating to the loss, the regulatory compliance record of the El Faro, crewmember duties and qualifications, past operations of the vessel and the USCG’s search and rescue operations.
Later hearings will look at the accident voyage, including cargo loading, weather conditions and navigation.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), which conducted its own investigation, will participate in the Marine Board of Investigation hearings.
This announcement of these hearings came a day after 10 families of El Faro victims settled pending lawsuits with the ship’s owner Tote Maritime for $500,000 each.
