NTSB: Specialized equipment needed to recover El Faro’s ‘black box’

Recovery of the ill-fated TOTE Maritime general cargo ship’s voyage data recorder under 15,000 feet of water presents a “formidable challenge,” but National Transportation Safety Board investigators hope to complete the mission in the next several months.

   The National Transportation Safety Board, which on Tuesday announced it had discovered the “black box” or voyage data recorder on the sunken TOTE Maritime Puerto Rico cargo ship El Faro, said it does not have the equipment needed to recover it and will have to return with more specialized equipment.
   A team of investigators and scientists aboard the research ship Atlantis, who are collaborating with investigators at the NTSB lab in Washington, determined that given the VDR’s proximity to the mast and other obstructions, recovery of the VDR cannot be accomplished with the equipment currently available on the ship.
   El Faro sank in Hurricane Joaquin on October 1, 2015 off the Bahamas en route from Jacksonville, Fla. to San Juan, Puerto Rico, claiming the lives of all 33 crew members.
   Video and photographic images revealed that the VDR appears to remain attached to a steel beam connected to the mast structure.
   “Now that we have been able to see just how the VDR is oriented relative to the mast structure, it’s clear that we’re going to need specialized deep-water salvage recovery equipment in order to bring it up,” said Brian Curtis, acting director of the NTSB Office of Marine Safety. “Extracting a recorder capsule attached to a four-ton mast under 15,000 feet of water presents formidable challenges, but we’re going to do everything that is technically feasible to get that recorder into our lab.”
   Although there is not yet a confirmed timeframe for the launch of the VDR retrieval effort, investigators are hopeful that the logistics can be coordinated so that the mission can be completed in the next several months.
   The current mission will continue to gather imagery of the El Faro hull and debris field until successfully completed. Atlantis is expected to depart the site April 30 and arrive in Woods Hole, Mass. May 5.
   In October and November of 2015, the NTSB conducted an initial search mission to locate the sunken vessel and conduct an initial survey of the debris field. The data collected during that mission was used by investigators to plot “high probability” search zones for the current mission. That data proved reliable and resulted in the location of the mast and VDR in one of the predetermined zones.
   Meanwhile, the U.S. Coast Guard said its Marine Board of Investigation, which held a public hearing on the El Faro loss earlier this year will convene two more sessions.
   The second, to be held in Jacksonville May 16-27 will focus on shipboard operations, cargo loading, lashing and stowage operations for the accident voyage while also examining the vessel’s analysis of stability and weather conditions forcasted and encountered. In addition, the regulatory oversight for the El Faro will be examined to determine and potential implications of that oversight on the accident voyage.
   A third hearing on a date to be determined will examine additional elements of the investigation including crew witnesses, TOTE company officials and contents of the El Faro‘s voyage data recorder if it can be recovered and analyzed.
   The NTSB, which is conducting its own investigation, will fully participate in the Marine Board of Investigation hearings.