USCG completes review of first El Faro hearing

The U.S. Coast Guard’s Marine Board of Investigation has reviewed the transcripts for the first public hearing session into the loss of the TOTE Maritime general cargo ship, which sank last October and claimed the lives of 33 people on board.    The U.S. Coast Guard’s (USCG) Marine Board of Investigation (MBI) has completed its review of transcripts for the first public hearing session into the loss of the TOTE Maritime general cargo ship El Faro, the USCG said in a statement.
   The El Faro sank Oct. 1, 2015 after sailing into the path of Hurricane Joaquin, claiming the lives of all 33 crew members on board.
   Wreckage from the ship, which was en route from Jacksonville, Fla. to San Juan, Puerto Rico at the time of the incident, was discovered by National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigators on Oct. 31. With the assistance of the U.S. Navy, NTSB in April returned to the wreck, near the Bahamas and under about 15,000 feet of water, to search for its “black box” voyage data recorder.
   NTSB retrieved El Faro’s VDR on Aug. 8 and have since been investigating its contents, which revealed over 26 hours of bridge audio and weather and navigational data.
   The MBI has held two evidentiary hearings so far in Jacksonville, and a transcript of the first session is available on the USCG’s website.
   The Coast Guard said the board will examine the information retrieved from the VDR, among other things, during a third hearing session tentatively scheduled for this winter. That hearing is expected to conclude the fact-finding portion of the investigation, at which point MBI will begin its analysis of the facts presented in all three hearings.
   Following its analysis, the MBI will submit a complete report to the commandant of the Coast Guard, who will review it and make final determinations on any safety recommendations. The report will then be made public.
   The NTSB is conducting its own investigation into the casualty, the final report for which is expected to be released some time in the next six to eight months.