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

The Coast Guard to suspend search for survivors

OCTOBER 7, 2015—The U.S. Coast Guard has told family members of the crew of the lost cargo ship El Faro that it will suspend the search for survivors at 7 PM ET.

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:

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.

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.

 

 

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