NTSB: Efforts to locate El Faro’s pinger unsuccessful

The Navy will now use side scan sonar in attempt to locate the wreck in a search area near Crooked Island, Bahamas, the National Transportation Safety Board said Tuesday.    Efforts by the Navy to locate the wreckage of the lost TOTE Maritime Puerto Rico cargo ship El Faro have so far been unsuccessful, the National Transportation Safety Board said Tuesday.
   NTSB said the Navy’s tugboat Apache arrived at the last known position of the El Faro Oct. 23 and began searching for the vessel with a towed pinger locator (TPL). The tug searched an area of 10 nautical miles by 15 nautical miles by dragging the TPL on five lines across the search area in an attempt to detect the acoustic signal associated with the pinger on El Faro.
   The pinger is part of the voyage data recorder or “black box” that the NTSB is hoping to recover because it believes it may provide information on the final hours onboard the ill-fated container and roll-on/roll-off ship, which is presumed to have sunk near Crooked Island in the Bahamas as it neared the eye of Hurricane Joaquin on Oct. 1.
   “The TPL’s ability to detect the El Faro’s pinger may be effected by the orientation of the vessel as it lays on the sea floor or the current condition and functionality of the El Faro’s pinger,” NTSB said.
   As a result, the Navy on Tuesday switched to a different piece of equipment to search for the ship, a side-scan sonar system. NTSB said the 150-square-nautical-mile area will be searched using the sonar equipment.
   “This phase will consist of 13 search tracks and will take approximately 14 days to complete,” NTSB said. “The side scan sonar system will be used to locate the El Faro, and if found, create an image of the vessel.”
   NTSB said it plans to provide additional information on its ongoing investigation into the loss of El Faro and its 33 crew members later today.