NTSB in Jacksonville investigating El Faro

The captain of the 790-foot El Faro planned to bypass Hurricane Joaquin, but a few kind of mechanical failure left the US container ship with 33 people aboard helplessly and “tragically” adrift in the path of the powerful storm, the vessel’s owners say.

NTSB member Bella Dinh-Zarr told reporters the investigation would be hard because the cargo ship sank in an unknown location, down 15,000-feet, according to Reuters.

A heavily damaged lifeboat from the El Faro was discovered, no one aboard, Fedor said.

He said search crews would have focused on anything indicating that there were survivors, and he believes the crews would have found a life boat or life raft if one were out there. It was expected to arrive Oct. 2, but on Oct. 1, the ship’s captain alerted the Coast Guard, saying the vessel had taken on water, was listing at 15-degrees and had lost propulsion.

TOTE INC/REUTERS Family members and media have identified many crew members of El Faro, even as rescuers fail to find any trace of them.

The cargo ship’s owner, Tote Inc said it would “cooperate fully” with the NTSB. The union has no connection to the El Faro or its crew.

Survival suits are created to help seafarers float and stay warm.

With the situation looking grim, family members of the El Faro crew are speaking out about their loved ones with a few questioning why the experienced El Faro captain would have placed the ship in the path of Hurricane Joaquin given the severity of the storm.

Pingree said investigators have a relatively narrow area in which they believe the black box may be found. The device is created to send out pings for 30 days after it hits the water.

The recorder, a Voyage Master II manufactured by Sperry Marine, captured onboard audio from the bridge and the ship’s course and speed.

CNN’s Eliott C. McLaughlin accompanied a Coast Guard team on a daylong search flight Monday.

The 41-year-old El Faro was scheduled to be retired from Caribbean duty and retrofitted in the coming months for service between the West Coast and Alaska, said Phil Greene, another Tote executive.

The ship was piled high with containers and also was weighed down with trailers and automobiles below deck, the company said.

The U.S. Coast Guard said late on Tuesday it had three vessels in the area of the El Faro’s last known position and would continue searching through the night into Wednesday, after suspending an unproductive aerial search for the day. It was inspected by the U.S. Coast Guard in March and by the American Bureau of Shipping in February.

Capt. Nathan Gandy, Maine Maritime Academy’s commandant of midshipmen, said it is possible to survive abandoning a ship in a Category 4 hurricane. He said he believes emails and other messages between the captain and the company will show if Mr. Davidson was pressured to sail in unsafe conditions. Robert F. Bukaty/AP Maine Maritime Academy students attend a vigil for the missing crew members, several of whom graduated from there.