The National Transportation Safety Board is launching a second search for the voice-data recorder of the sunken El Faro cargo ship.
On the Senate floor Thursday, Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) said the recorder likely holds answers to how and why the ship went down in last year en route from Jacksonville to Puerto Rico.
“With the help of even more sophisticated equipment to help investigators pinpoint the approximate location of the recorder and hopefully if it’s not among the wreckage of the ship, to pinpoint its location and pick it off the ocean floor,” Nelson said.
Next week, the U.S. Coast Guard it set to begin fact-finding hearings in Jacksonville, and could assign blame for the disaster that claimed 33 lives.
Employees of El Faro operator TOTE Marine Services and former crew members are expected to testify at the public hearings. They're scheduled to last from Feb. 16 to Feb. 26 at Jacksonville's Prime Osborn Convention Center.
