Bridge and data recorder missing from sunken U.S. cargo ship El Faro

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

US | Tue Nov 3, 2015 7:13pm EST

Bridge and data recorder missing from sunken U.S. cargo ship El Faro

MIAMI | BY DAVID ADAMS

The cargo ship El Faro broke up partially when it sank off the Bahamas in a hurricane last month and its bridge and voyage data recorder are missing, U.S. authorities said on Tuesday.

The data recorder, similar to an airplane's black box and affixed to the bridge, could provide investigators from the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board with vital clues as to what caused the worst cargo shipping disaster involving a U.S.-flagged vessel in more than three decades.

It should contain the last 12 hours of engine orders aboard El Faro and other communications from the bridge.

[font size=1]-snip-[/font]

The vessel was described as intact in a statement from the NTSB on Monday. But in an update on Tuesday, after a remotely operated submersible equipped with bright lights and a camera had surveyed both sides of the wreck, the agency said damage did occur.

"The navigation bridge and the deck below have separated from the vessel and have not been located," the NTSB said.

[font size=1]-snip-[/font]

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/11/04/us-ship-elfaro-idUSKCN0ST00O20151104

[malaise]

1. Did you know that the owners went to court to try and stop

families of the survivors from suing their criminal a$$es?