Suspected El Faro Wreck Found Upright, in One Piece

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 October 1 during Hurricane Joaquin. The vessel was located at a depth of about 15,000 feet in the vicinity of its 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 (ROV), to survey and confirm the identity of the wreckage. 

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.

On Sunday, the U.S. Navy salvage team prepared to launch the ROV. The team's mission is to document the shipwreck and any debris field and to retrieve the sunken vessel's voyage data recorder as part of an investigation into its loss, according to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).

If human remains are encountered during the submersible operation the Navy will attempt to recover them, NTSB spokesman Peter Knudson said.

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After three days without any indication of a pinger signal, the TPL was withdrawn from the ocean and Orion was put in the water in an attempt to locate El Faro with sonar technology, which creates sonar images from the processing of sound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

There were 28 Americans and five Polish crewmembers on board at the time of the vessel’s disappearance. The search for survivors was called off on October 7.

The El Faro 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 distress alerts were received, 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 communicate further with the ship.