New Photos of El Faro Site Provided to Crews' Families

On Wednesday, the National Transportation Safety Board provided families of the crew of the sunken ro/ro El Faro with new video footage and photos from the vessel's wreck site.

The imagery was taken by the survey and salvage crew of the Navy tug Apache during their examination of the site with the remotely operated submersible CURV 21.

Local media were invited by one family to attend the teleconference with the NTSB in which the photos were shown, and the images are available here.

The photos show the bridge, separated from the hull by about half a mile, and the four remaining containers on the deck of the ship, out of 400 loaded before her voyage.

The NTSB told families that the investigation was still in its early stages and that it would be some time before definitive answers to their questions would be available.

"Our families have often wondered, and it flashes in your mind, what it might have been like. That is certainly one of the most troubling of things as we try to find closure," said Pastor Robert Green, whose son was one of the 33 crewmembers lost at sea.

The El Faro, which went down during Hurricane Joaquin on October 1, was bound for Puerto Rico at the time of the accident. All 28 American and five Polish nationals aboard are presumed dead.