NTSB to Open Docket for El Faro Sinking Investigation

NTSB The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) plans to open the docket for its investigation into the sinking of the U.S. flagged cargo ship El Faro on December 13, 2016. The El Faro sank during Hurricane Joaquin in October 2015, and all 33 crewmembers aboard perished in the accident. The ship’s voyage data recorder was recovered from the ocean floor at a depth of about 15,000 feet, in August 2016. A voyage data recorder group was convened the same month to audition the ship’s VDR and to develop a detailed transcript of the sounds and discernible words captured on the El Faro’s bridge audio. According to NTSB, the docket will contain only factual information about weather, engineering, survival factors, and data from the El Faro’s voyage data recorder. The docket will also contain the detailed transcript from the voyage data recorder’s audio recording. The NTSB plans to conduct a media briefing about the contents of the docket in the NTSB Board Room and Conference Center on December 13. The public docket contains only factual information collected by NTSB investigators. The public docket does not provide analysis, findings, recommendations or probable cause determinations, and as such, no conclusions about how or why an accident occurred should be drawn from the docket, NTSB said. Providing the docket affords the public the opportunity to see what information has been gathered about the accident. Any analysis, findings, recommendations, or probable cause determinations related to the accident will be issued by the NTSB at a later date.