The El Faro, the cargo ship that went missing during Hurricane Joaquin, may have been found. According to NJ.com, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said that a U.S. Navy search team found the wreckage at a depth of approximately 15,000 feet, near the ship’s last-known location in the Bahamas.
The U.S. Coast Guard declared the ship missing on Oct. 1, during a trip from Jacksonville, Fla., to Puerto Rico. The ship ran into high winds and large swells from the hurricane. El Faro’s captain reported that the ship lost propulsion, had taken in water and was listing, leaning 15 degrees to the side, during the crew’s last communication.
Officials said that the USNS Apache, the ship that found the wreckage, will use a deep-ocean, remote-controlled robot to explore the wreckage and confirm that it is El Faro. According to the investigation, the sonar images match the El Faro. It was found upright and in one piece.
The boat, a 735-foot cargo ship with 33 crew members, belonged to Tote Inc. of Princeton, N.J. The U.S. Coast Guard called off the search for the crew, which included 28 U.S. citizens and five Polish citizens, on Oct. 7.
