El Faro captain ordered crew to abandon ship 10 minutes before sinking
THE captain of the doomed 790-foot (241-metre) El Faro ordered his men to abandon ship 10 minutes before the vessel sank on October 1 in a hurricane between Jacksonville and Puerto Rico, it was revealed in audio tapes recently make public.
The captain of the doomed El Faro cargo ship sounded an alarm for his 33 crewmen, who all perished, to abandon ship shortly before it sank, said the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).
The NTSB released details from the ship's voyage data recorder, found earlier this month on the ocean floor after a 10-month search.
The data includes weather and navigational detail, in addition to recorded conversations about the worst cargo shipping disaster involving a US-flagged vessel in more than three decades.
In their final morning, El Faro's crew were clearly in trouble, according to the data recordings, which began hours after the ship's departure from Jacksonville, Florida two days before.
At 6.13am, the crew was discussing flooding and lost propulsion. In a phone call, the ship's master informed staff on shore that the situation was critical, the NTSB said in a statement. He was preparing to abandon ship.
At 7.30am, he sounded the alarm to abandon ship. The recording ended about 10 minutes later, the NTSB said.
THE captain of the doomed 790-foot (241-metre) El Faro ordered his men to abandon ship 10 minutes before the vessel sank on October 1 in a hurricane between Jacksonville and Puerto Rico, it was revealed in audio tapes recently make public.
The captain of the doomed El Faro cargo ship sounded an alarm for his 33 crewmen, who all perished, to abandon ship shortly before it sank, said the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).
The NTSB released details from the ship's voyage data recorder, found earlier this month on the ocean floor after a 10-month search.
The data includes weather and navigational detail, in addition to recorded conversations about the worst cargo shipping disaster involving a US-flagged vessel in more than three decades.
In their final morning, El Faro's crew were clearly in trouble, according to the data recordings, which began hours after the ship's departure from Jacksonville, Florida two days before.
At 6.13am, the crew was discussing flooding and lost propulsion. In a phone call, the ship's master informed staff on shore that the situation was critical, the NTSB said in a statement. He was preparing to abandon ship.
At 7.30am, he sounded the alarm to abandon ship. The recording ended about 10 minutes later, the NTSB said.