Search for El Faro’s data recorder to resume in April

The New York Times

By Amanda Hoover @amahoover

February 11, 2016

1 minute to read

The National Transportation Safety Board will launch a second expedition to find the El Faro’s data recorder (also known as a “black box’’) after a 2015 search failed to locate the device.

The cargo ship, which went missing during a hurricane on October 1, sank near Crooked Island in the Bahamas with 33 crew members aboard. Without the data recorder, investigators have not been able to determine what caused the extremely rare disaster.

The new search mission will likely last for two weeks and begin in April, according to an NTSB statement. Investigators will try to locate the data recorder, which was not found along with the ship’s debris and likely came loose from the ship along with the mast in the storm. The recorder may have captured conversations and other sounds aboard the ship, which could give investigators insight into how and why the ship went down.

Search crews in October sought to recover the ship’s data recorder, but couldn’t find it before the battery died a few weeks later. This time around, they’ll focus on a 13.5 square mile area, using photo and video equipment to document the search, according to the NTSB statement. If the mission does locate the recorder, teams will use a remotely operated vehicle to recover it.

“The voyage data recorder may hold vital information about the challenges encountered by the crew in trying to save the ship,’’ NTSB Chairman Christopher Hart said in the statement. “Getting that information could be very helpful to our investigation.’’