Wreckage of Cargo Ship Believed to be El Faro Located in More Than 15,000 Feet of Water

A search team on board the USNS Apache has found the wreckage of a vessel that they believe to be the cargo ship El Faro, which went missing on Oct. 1 during Hurricane Joaquin. The vessel was located at a depth of about 15,000 feet in the vicinity of the last known position.

Sophisticated sonar equipment towed from Apache first detected what are believed to be images of the vessel using Orion, a side-scanning sonar system, at about 1:36 pm ET on October 31 during the fifth of 13 planned search line surveys.

To confirm the finding, specialists on Apache will use CURV 21, a deep ocean remotely operated vehicle, to survey and confirm the identity of the wreckage. This survey could begin as early as Sunday, November 1.

The target identified by Orion is consistent with a 790-foot cargo ship, which from sonar images appears to be in an upright position and in one piece.

Shortly after the National Transportation Safety Board opened its investigation into the accident, it contracted with the U.S. Navy to locate the missing ship, document the wreckage and debris field, and if possible, recover the voyage data recorder.

Apache departed Little Creek, Va., on Oct. 19 after being fitted with a suite of state-of-the-art underwater detection equipment. On Oct 23, after arriving at the last known position of El Faro, specialists on Apache placed a towed pinger locator (TPL) into the water and began slowly traversing the area according to a preset search pattern in hopes of picking up sounds of the pinger from El Faro’s voyage data recorder.

After three days without any indication of a pinger signal, the TPL was withdrawn from the ocean and Orion was put in the water in an attempt to locate El Faro with sonar technology, which creates sonar images from the processing of sound patterns.

If the vessel is confirmed to be El Faro, CURVE-21, outfitted with a video camera will start the documentation of the vessel and the debris field and attempt to locate and recover the voyage data recorder. Those operations are expected to take up to 15 days to complete in ideal conditions but could take longer depending on weather and conditions encountered during the documentation process.
Additional investigative updates will be issued as circumstances warrant.

More information and resources are available on the NTSB’s webpage for the El Faro accident investigation: http://go.usa.gov/3Smre
Additional information regarding the equipment used by the US Navy is available on their website.

Orion: http://www.navy.mil/navydata/fact_display.asp?cid=4300&ct=4&tid=197
CURVE 21: http://www.navy.mil/navydata/fact_display.asp?cid=4300&tid=50&ct=4

COAST GUARD SUSPEND SEARCH FOR EL FARO CREW AFTER 7-DAY SEARCH

MIAMI — The Coast Guard has suspended the search for possible survivors from the cargo ship El Faro at sunset Wednesday, which is believed to have sunk during Hurricane Joaquin.

Coast Guard, Navy, Air Force, Air National Guard and tugboat crews searched more than 183,000 square nautical miles off the Bahamian coast in a joint effort to locate the El Faro crew.

"I have come to a very difficult decision to suspend the search for the crew of the El Faro at sunset tonight. My deepest condolences go to the families, loved ones, and friends of the El Faro crew," said Rear Adm. Scott Buschman, commander, Coast Guard 7th District. "U.S. Coast Guard, U.S Navy, U.S. Air Force, and the Tote Maritime tug crews searched day and night, sometimes in perilous conditions with the hope of finding survivors in this tragic loss"

The El Faro, a 790-foot roll on, roll off cargo ship, was en route to San Juan, Puerto Rico, from Jacksonville, Florida. At approximately 7:30 a.m. Thursday, Coast Guard watchstanders were notified the El Faro was disabled in the path of 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.

The Coast Guard located a deceased person in a survival suit in the water Sunday night. A heavily damaged life boat with markings consistent with those on board the El Faro were also located Sunday. Additional items located by search crews since Thursday include a partially submerged life raft, a survival suit, life jackets, life rings, cargo containers, Styrofoam, packaged food and an oil sheen.

Crew of the SS El Faro as provided by Tote Maritime:

Louis Champa	Palm Coast, Florida
Roosevelt Clark	Jacksonville, Florida
Sylvester Crawford Jr.	Lawrenceville, Georgia
Michael Davidson	Windham, Maine
Brookie Davis	Jacksonville, Florida
Keith Griffin	Fort Myers, Florida
Frank Hamm	Jacksonville, Florida
Joe Hargrove	Orange Park, Florida
Carey Hatch	Jacksonville, Florida
Michael Holland	North Wilton, Maine
Jack Jackson	Jacksonville, Florida
Jackie Jones, Jr.	Jacksonville, Florida
Lonnie Jordan	Jacksonville, Florida
Piotr Krause	Poland
Mitchell Kuflik	Brooklyn, New York
Roan Lightfoot	Jacksonville Beach, Florida
Jeffrey Mathias	Kingston, Massachusetts
Dylan Meklin	Rockland, Maine
Marcin Nita	Poland
Jan Podgorski	Poland
James Porter	Jacksonville, Florida
Richard Pusatere	Virginia Beach, Virginia
Theodore Quammie	Jacksonville, Florida
Danielle Randolph	Rockland, Massachusetts
Jeremie Riehm	Camden, Delaware
Lashawn Rivera	Jacksonville, Florida
Howard Schoenly	Cape Coral, Florida
Steven Shultz	Roan Mountain, Tennessee
German Solar-Cortes	Orlando, Florida
Anthony Thomas	Jacksonville, Florida
Andrzej Truszkowski	Poland
Mariette Wright	St. Augustine, Florida
Rafal Zdobych	Poland

The following search-and-rescue units and crews assisted with the search:

• Coast Guard Air Station Clearwater, Florida HC-130 Hercules airplane crews
• Coast Guard Air Station Clearwater, Florida MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crews
• Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City, North Carolina HC-130 Hercules airplane crews
• Coast Guard Cutter Northland, a 270-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, homeported in Key West, Florida
• Air Force Rescue Coordination Center
• Air National Guard HC-130 airplane crews from the 106th Rescue Wing, Westhampton Beach, New York
• Air Force WC-130 Super Hercules crews from the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron, 403rd Wing, Keesler Air Force Base, Mississippi
• Navy P-8 Poseidon airplane crews from Naval Air Station Jacksonville
• Air Force E-8C Joint Stars crews from the 116th Air Control Wing, Robins Air Force Base, Georgia
• Three commercial tugboats

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