Investigators: Recovering El Faro Recorder Will Be Challenge

WOODS HOLE (AP) — Federal investigators say recovering the voyage data recorder from the sunken cargo ship El Faro will be a challenge.

Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board returned Thursday to the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution from a mission to the wreck site.

They said they found the recorder on April 26 in 15,000 feet of water on a beam attached to a mast, but were not able to recover it.

They photographed the area and say the recorder, which is built to withstand the water pressure, appears to be in good shape.

The 790-foot freighter sank during Hurricane Joaquin off the Bahamas on Oct. 1. All 33 people on board died.

Brian Curtis, the acting director of Marine Safety with the NTSB, says they hope to go back to the sight in the next few months with some deep-sea recovery equipment.

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