Storm Pauses El Faro Search

Published Nov 9, 2015 6:43 PM by The Maritime Executive

The search of the wreck site of the ro/ro vessel El Faro has been temporarily suspended due to Tropical Storm Kate.

At time of last report from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), the Navy tug Apache was searching for the missing superstructure of the vessel using sidescan sonar. Finding the missing bridge could help investigators locate the voyage data recorder, which could provide important clues.

Tropical Storm Kate was centered 90 miles southeast of Great Abaco Island in the Bahamas as of Monday. The storm has been sustaining its strength, with measured wind speeds in the range of 45 mph, but is expected to move off to the northeast by November 10, and is not predicted to make landfall in the continental U.S.

Prior to the suspension of operations, the 226 foot Navy tug Apache was on scene with the remotely operated submersible CURV 21 and the towed sidescan sonar array ORION. The NTSB did not indicate when operations were expected to resume.

On October 31, the NTSB announced that the crew of the Apache found an object suspected to be El Faro using sidescan sonar, located in 15,000 feet of water some 35 miles northeast of Crooked Island in the Bahamas. The vessel’s identity was visually confirmed with dive video from CURV 21.

The El Faro, which went down with all hands 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.