El Faro Data Recorder Brought to Surface

Recorder hopes to bring light to sinking investigation.

SMSH Legal reported back in April  that the voyage data-recorder of the El Faro had been located on the ocean floor of the Bahamas. It was finally retrieved Monday night by USNS Apache crewmembers, bringing a glimmer of hope into discovering what challenges the crewmembers faced the day of the sinking.  “Hopefully, the recoverable data will shed light on the disastrous decisions that led to this tragedy, ” said Attorney Matthew Shaffer, who is representing the family of Sylvester Crawford, one of the 33 crew members who died on the ship.

The NTSB said that it will being processing the audio and other data when the USNS Apache returns around August 12th. This was the NTSB’s second mission to reach the data recorder. It was determined that specialized deep-water salvage equipment was needed to recover the recorder, which was 15,000 feet below the surface.

The 790-foot El Faro sank Oct. 1, 2015 after getting caught in Hurricane Joaquin while en route to Puerto Rico from Jacksonville, FL.  All 33 crewmembers lost their lives.