The National Transportation Safety Board announced Thursday that U.S. Navy salvage tug Apache has located the bridge deck of El Faro roughly a mile from the main wreckage of the ro/ro cargo ship. 33 crew died when the 790-foot long ship sank in Hurricane Joaquin in the beginning of October. The wreckage lies in approximately 15,000 of water or roughly a half mile deeper than the wreck of the Titanic. The tug Apache is equipped with side-scanning sonar and a remote operating vehicle or ROV capable of operating at these depths.
The search continues for the Voyage Data Recorder (VDR), often referred to as the “black box.” The VDR, which is, in fact, orange, would provide valuable information on what happened prior to the ship’s sinking. The VDR is designed to collect data from various sensors on board the vessel for the prior 24 hours.
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