NTSB locates El Faro’s ‘black box’

The National Transportation Safety Board hopes to recover the voyage data recorder and use it in the agency’s investigation into why the TOTE Maritime general cargo vessel sank last fall, claiming the lives of 33 crew members on board.    The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has located the voyage data recorder (VDR) or “black box” of the sunken cargo ship El Faro, which sank last fall resulting in the death of all 33 crew members, according to a statement from the agency Tuesday.
   The next step in the ongoing investigation is to determine how the VDR can be retrieved.
   NTSB is hoping that information from the device will help them understand why the TOTE Maritime general cargo vessel sank.
   The VDR was located early Tuesday morning in 15,000 feet of water, about 41 miles (36 nautical miles) northeast of Acklins and Crooked Islands, Bahamas, by a team of investigators and scientists using remotely operated undersea search equipment.
   At about 1 a.m. EDT on Tuesday morning the team aboard the research vessel Atlantis located the El Faro’s mast, where the VDR was mounted. After examining numerous images provided by undersea search equipment, the team positively identified the VDR.
   “Finding an object about the size of a basketball almost three miles under the surface of the sea is a remarkable achievement,” said NTSB Chairman Christopher A. Hart. “It would not have been possible without the information gained during the first survey of the wreckage and the equipment and support provided by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Coast Guard, the U.S. Navy, the University of Rhode Island, and the many other partners involved in this effort.”
   The investigative team is comprised of specialists from the NTSB, the U.S. Coast Guard, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and TOTE Services, the owner and operator of El Faro.
   The type of VDR that was mounted on the El Faro is capable of recording conversations and sounds on the ship’s navigation bridge, which could provide investigators with important evidence as they seek to understand the sequence of events that led to the casualty.
   An NTSB spokesman told American Shipper that the mast and recorder were found forward of the bow of the ship, in between the main wreckage and part of the bridge, which had separated from the the rest of the hull.
   The 790-foot, U.S.-flag cargo ship sank Oct. 1, 2015, during Hurricane Joaquin while sailing from Jacksonville, Fla. to San Juan, Puerto Rico. Twenty-eight regular crew members and five Polish shipyard workers who were doing work on the ship in preparation for a drydocking perished in the accident.
   In an earlier effort to find the black box, investigators identified the vessel and related debris field on the ocean floor but were unable to locate the VDR. Atlantis, which is owned by the U.S. Navy and operated by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, left Charleston for the Bahamas on April 18 and had more advanced sonar and imagery system than the previous search vessel.
   The Atlantis will stay at the accident site through April 30 while the team continues the photo and video documentation of the sunken ship and debris field before returning to Woods Hole, Mass. on May 5.
   As part of the mission, the Inner Space Center at the University of Rhode Island assisted investigators in Washington by establishing a telepresence in the NTSB lab to view underwater imagery in real time and to collaborate with the team on the Atlantis.
   The NTSB also released a video showing the VDR on the ocean floor Tuesday morning.