Search Results for: "El Faro"

Navy tug on way to seek El Faro wreckage and VDR

The tug is deploying to a search area northeast of Crooked Island in the Bahamas island chain, which is the last known location of the vessel.

The initial search area is 100 square miles, and water depth is estimated to be 15,000 feet across the expected search area. Transit to this search area is expected to take four-to-five days due to weather.

Apache is equipped with several pieces of underwater search equipment, including a voyage data recorder locator, side-scan sonar and an underwater remote operated vehicle.

The Navy’s mission will be to first locate the ship and then, if possible, to retrieve the voyage data recorder (VDR) – commonly known as a black box.

The U.S. Navy operates some of the world’s most advanced underwater search and salvage systems. Though this equipment is typically used to search for and recover downed military ships and aircraft, the Navy has a long history in assisting other federal agencies in underwater search and salvage operations, including the search and recovery of TWA 800 and the space shuttle Challenger. In 2013, the Navy assisted the government of Australia in its search for missing Malaysian Airliner MH 370.

USN Apache is a fleet ocean tug operated by the Military Sealift Command. The ship provides towing, diving and standby submarine rescue services for the Navy.

The ship is 226 feet long and has a crew of approximately 22 civilian mariners and uniformed Navy personnel.
The crew will be joined by a team from the Navy’s Supervisor of Diving and Salvage.

Also on board is the NTSB Investigator-in-Charge, Tom Roth-Roffy, and representatives from the USCG, TOTE and ABS, all parties to the NTSB investigation (see new story).

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NTSB issues preliminary report on El Faro investigation

Both ships were built at Sun Shipbuilding & Dry Dock in Chester, PA. The El Faro was delivered in 1975 and the El Yunque in 1976

At a final on-scene briefing in Jacksoville, FL, on October 8,  NTSB Vice Chairman Bella Dinh-Zarr, stressed that the NTSB investigation is still at the fact gathering stage.

Yesterday, NTSB issued its preliminary report on its investigation.

The agency says the information in the report is preliminary and will be supplemented or corrected during the course of the investigation.

Following is the text of the preliminary report:

On Thursday, October 1, 2015, about 07:15 a.m. eastern daylight time, the US Coast Guard received distress alerts from the 737-foot-long roll-on/roll-off cargo ship El Faro. The US-flagged ship, owned by Sea Star Line, LLC, and operated by TOTE Services (TOTE), was 36 nautical miles northeast of Acklins and Crooked Islands, Bahamas, and close to the eye of Hurricane Joaquin. The ship was en route from Jacksonville, Florida, to San Juan, Puerto Rico, with a cargo of containers and vehicles. Just minutes before the distress alerts, the El Faro master had called TOTE’s designated person ashore and reported that the ship was experiencing some flooding. He said the crew had controlled the ingress of water but the ship was listing 15 degrees and had lost propulsion. The Coast Guard and TOTE were unable to reestablish communication with the ship.

Twenty-eight US crewmembers and five Polish workers were on board.

The Coast Guard deployed helicopters and search vessels to the ship’s last known position, but the search was hampered by hurricane-force conditions on scene. On Sunday, October 4, a damaged lifeboat, two damaged liferafts, and a deceased crewmember wearing an immersion suit were found. On Monday, October 5, a debris field and oil slick were found, and the Coast Guard determined that the El Faro was lost and declared the event a major marine casualty. The Coast Guard suspended the unsuccessful search for survivors at sundown on Wednesday, October 7.

On Tuesday, October 6, the National Transportation Safety Board launched a full team to Jacksonville to lead the federal investigation in cooperation with the Coast Guard, the American Bureau of Shipping (the El Faro’s classification society), and TOTE as parties. The US Navy Salvage and Diving division of the Naval Seas Systems Command was contracted to locate the sunken ship, assist in the sea floor documentation of the wreckage, and recover the voyage data recorder.

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Lawsuit alleges negligence by TOTE and El Faro captain

The suit names as defendants TOTE Services Inc. doing business as TOTE Maritime Puerto Rico and the captain of the ship, Michael Davison, who is presumed lost along with the rest of those on board the ship.

The suit is being brought under the general maritime law of the United States and Florida’s Wrongful Death Act.

In a press conference staged on the steps of the Duval County Courthouse, Mr. Gary said he would be seeking $100 million in damages. He also said that he represented relatives of other crew members and more lawsuits would follow.

“The ship should never have left dock,” he told reporters. He said that he would seek the ship’s maintenance records and that he had heard it was undergoing mechanical repairs on the day it departed.

Mr. Gary, who calls himself “the giant killer,” is a flamboyant trial attorney who has won sizable damage awards against many major corporations.

Read court filing HERE

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SIU creates fund for family of seafarers of El Faro

OCTOBER 12, 2015—The Seafarers International Union (SIU) has launched a voluntary fund to help the dependents of the seafarers who perished in the sinking of the U.S.-flag containership El Faro.  SIU Secretary-Treasurer

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FMC Commissioner Doyle’s statement on El Faro disappearance

The ship was enroute from Jacksonville, FL to San Juan, PR. On Monday, four days after the ship vanished, the Coast Guard concluded it sank near the Bahamas in about 15,000 feet of water. One unidentified body in a survival suit was spotted, and the search continues for the other 32 crew members. The search continues today.

 Commissioner Doyle sailed as an engineer aboard the SS Mayaguez on the Philadelphia – Jacksonville – San Juan trade route in 2001. Doyle issued the following statement today:

“I would like to extend my deepest condolences to the employees, contractors, families and friends of TOTE Maritime, including my brothers and sisters of the Seafarers International Union and the American Maritime Officers Union, on the recent disappearance at sea of the vessel El Faro. I am praying for the safe rescue of any survivors, as well as for those who have passed.

“It is with a heavy heart that my deepest sympathies are extended.

 A Mariners Version of Psalm 23:
The Lord is my pilot; I shall not drift.
He lights me across the dark waters. He steers me through deep channels.
He keeps my log.
He guides me by the star of Holiness for His name’s sake.
As I sail through the storms and tempests of life, I will dread no danger, for You are
near me; Your love and care shelter me.
You quieten the waves with oil, my ship rides calmly.
The Lord looks over me while waiting at sea for a safe harbor
And at the end of my voyage, I shall rest in the port of my Lord.”

 

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NTSB launches go team to investigate El Faro loss

Yesterday the U.S. Coast Guard announced that the vessel, which was en route from Jacksonville, Fla., to San Juan, Puerto Rico, was lost in last week’s storm. The Coast Guard will participate in the NTSB’s investigation.

The team will be led by the NTSB’s Tom Roth-Roffy as investigator-in-charge. NTSB Vice Chairman Bella Dinh-Zarr is accompanying the team and will serve as the principal spokesperson during the on-scene phase of the investigation.

Congresswoman Corrine Brown (D. FL.) said that, as a senior member of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, she will be asking for “a complete investigation into this tragic incident.”

The Coast Guard said yesterday that search and rescue crews continued searching for possible survivors from the cargo ship El Faro Monday night, covering a total search area of more than 160,574 square nautical miles.While searching in the vicinity of the ship’s last known position 35 nautical miles northeast of Crooked Islands, Bahamas, the Coast Guard located a deceased person in a survival suit in the water.

A heavily damaged life boat with markings consistent with those on board the El Faro was also located Sunday. Additional items located by Coast Guard aircrews within a 225 square nautical mile search area include a partially submerged life raft, life jackets, life rings, cargo containers and an oil sheen Sunday.Coast Guard assets involved in Monday’s search include:

  • Two Coast Guard HC-130 Hercules airplane from Coast Guard Air Station Clearwater, FloridaTwo Navy P-8 fixed wing airplanes
  • One Coast Guard MH-60 Jayhawk from Coast Guard Air Station Clearwater, Florida
  • Coast Guard Cutter Northland, a 210-foot medium endurance cutter homeported in Portsmouth, Virginia
  • Coast Guard Cutter Resolute, a 210-foot medium endurance cutter homeported in St. Petersburg, Florida
  • Coast Guard Cutter Charles Sexton, a 154-foot fast response cutter homeported in Key West, Florida.
  • Three commercial tugboats

Sea and weather conditions during Monday’s search include one-foot seas and 15 knots winds with unrestricted visibility.All three Coast Guard cutters remained on scene to search through the night.

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Coast Guard believes El Faro sank, searches for survivors

Coast Guard spokesman CAPT Mark Fedor said during a press conference in Miami this morning that one body was found in a survival suit in a 225-square mile debris field near the Bahamas. The body was “unidentifiable” and was not recovered. CAPT Fedor said the Coast Guard also recovered one of the ship’s two lifeboats with no one on board. He said that the Coast Guard was still hopeful of finding survivors among the 33 crew on board. Despite the difficult conditions of being subjected to 140 mph winds and 50-foot waves, “I’m not going to discount someone’s will to survive,” says Fedor.

According to Fedor, there were 46 survival suits on board and each lifeboat is certified to carry 43. “These are trained mariners and they know how to abandon ship.”

The search for survivors will continue with aircraft and commercial ships in the area.

The Coast Guard said Sunday evening that the search teams, which also include personnel and resources from U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Navy, have covered more than 70,000 square miles.

The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, with involvement from the U.S. Coast Guard, is expected to conduct a full investigation. Fedor says the Coast Guard is also expected to conduct its own investigation.

The El Faro, owned by Tote Maritime, was built in 1974 and updated in 1992 and 2006. It was carrying 391 containers and 294 trailers and cars.

 

 

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Update: Coast Guard finds life ring from El Faro

The El Faro, a 790-foot roll on, roll off, cargo ship, departed Jacksonville, Florida, Sept. 29, en route to San Juan.

At about 7:30 a.m. Thursday, watchstanders at the Coast Guard Atlantic Area command center in Portsmouth, VA, received an Inmarsat satellite notification stating the El Faro was beset by Hurricane Joaquin, had lost propulsion, and had a 15-degree list. The crew reported the ship had previously taken on water, but that all flooding had been contained.

No further communications have been received from the vessel

A Coast Guard HC-130 search and rescue crew from Air Station Clearwater, Florida, spotted the life ring 120 nautical miles northeast of Crooked Island, Bahamas. A Coast Guard MH-60 helicopter crew recovered the life ring and confirmed it belonged to the missing ship.

Search and rescue crews have searched more than 30,000 square-miles since Thursday.

Sea conditions in the search area yesterday were reported to be 20 to 40-feet with winds in excess to 100 knots. Visibility for search and rescue flying between 500 and 1,000 feet was reported to be less than one nautical mile at times.

Tim Nolan, President of TOTE Maritime Puerto Rico, issued the following statement regarding ongoing efforts to locate and communicate with the El Faro and her crew:

“This morning TOTE Maritime Puerto Rico’s second ship, the El Yunque, and a contracted tugboat reached the area between the last known vicinity of the El Faro and the location that the Coast Guard recovered a life ring yesterday and carried out a visual survey.

“The two vessels discovered a container, which appears to be from the El Faro, and observed what appears to be an oil sheen.

“At this time there has been no sighting of the El Faro or any life boats.

“TOTE Maritime Puerto Rico and the Coast Guard remain focused on the continuing  search for the crew.  The contracted tugs as well as other vessels transiting the area are also keeping a lookout for any sign of the ship.

Our thoughts and prayers remain with the 33 individuals aboard the ship and their families.  They are our number one priority.”

A Coast Guard pilot searching for the missing containership, near the eye of hurricane Joaquin, recounts the weather conditions Oct. 3, 2015. The Coast Guard has been searching since Oct. 1, after losing communications with the El Faro.

U.S. Coast Guard video