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Details of sinking of El Faro cargo ship emerge from U.S. probe
Source: Reuters
World | Fri May 27, 2016 1:55pm EDT
Details of sinking of El Faro cargo ship emerge from U.S. probe
TAMPA, FLA. | BY LETITIA STEIN
U.S. investigators on Friday concluded two weeks of hearings into the sinking of cargo ship El Faro in a hurricane last fall that included reports the vessel had outdated weather data and testimony from some of the last people to see it.
The Coast Guard panel probing the worst cargo shipping disaster involving a U.S.-flagged vessel in more than three decades was told that the ship's captain intended to avoid a brewing storm in the Caribbean when he departed on a routine cargo run between Florida and Puerto Rico.
All 33 crew onboard died when the 790-foot (241-meter) ship sank off the Bahamas during a hurricane on Oct. 1, two days after leaving Jacksonville, Florida, before the storm intensified into a hurricane.
The Coast Guard's Marine Board of Investigation, convened for the most serious disasters, examined cargo operations, weather forecasts and regulatory oversight during its second set of hearings on the El Faro tragedy.
[font size=1]-snip-[/font]
Yet given the unreliability of Hurricane Joaquin forecasts, more timely data may not have saved El Faro's crew, noted Rod Sullivan, a maritime lawyer closely following the hearings.
[font size=1]-snip-[/font]
Details of sinking of El Faro cargo ship emerge from U.S. probe
TAMPA, FLA. | BY LETITIA STEIN
U.S. investigators on Friday concluded two weeks of hearings into the sinking of cargo ship El Faro in a hurricane last fall that included reports the vessel had outdated weather data and testimony from some of the last people to see it.
The Coast Guard panel probing the worst cargo shipping disaster involving a U.S.-flagged vessel in more than three decades was told that the ship's captain intended to avoid a brewing storm in the Caribbean when he departed on a routine cargo run between Florida and Puerto Rico.
All 33 crew onboard died when the 790-foot (241-meter) ship sank off the Bahamas during a hurricane on Oct. 1, two days after leaving Jacksonville, Florida, before the storm intensified into a hurricane.
The Coast Guard's Marine Board of Investigation, convened for the most serious disasters, examined cargo operations, weather forecasts and regulatory oversight during its second set of hearings on the El Faro tragedy.
[font size=1]-snip-[/font]
Yet given the unreliability of Hurricane Joaquin forecasts, more timely data may not have saved El Faro's crew, noted Rod Sullivan, a maritime lawyer closely following the hearings.
[font size=1]-snip-[/font]
Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-ship-elfaro-idUSKCN0YI271