New video shows the moments on Monday when a Navy salvage team recovered the voyage data recorder, or the "black box," from the sunken cargo ship El Faro from its resting spot on the bottom of the ocean.
The NTSB said it's still unclear how long it will take them to review the data on the recorder, as the investigation is very complex and will take time. They say the VDR is expected to have the conversations between the captain and the bridge crews in their final hours.
The ship’s VDR was recovered nearly a year after El Faro sank in the Bahamas.
“It’s been an emotional rollercoaster, these last 10 months,” said Carla Newkirk, whose father, Larry Davis, was on El Faro.
Video shows NTSB officials and specialists from other agencies going 15,000 feet down to the wreckage of El Faro. It was there where they found the VDR and used a specialized tool to get a hold of it.
On Friday, family members of the lost crew members learned they will not be able to listen to the audio recordings on the device, if they exist. It was devastating news for Newkirk.
“I know my dad was on the bridge so I know my dad’s voice is on there and I just want to hear it one last time,” Newkirk said.
The cargo ship sank in October 2015 after getting caught in Hurricane Joaquin while traveling between Jacksonville and San Juan, Puerto Rico. All 33 people on board died.
"Just to see the violence of the sea and the winds that they would have had incur to cause that kind of, I'm sorry to cause that kind of an event," said NTSB investigator Tom Roth-Roffy.
"He was my dad, it’s a hole in my life that I’ll have for the rest of my life,” Newkirk said.
NTSB officials had to work to remove materials from the VDR from its time spent underwater.
The VDR is now in Washington D.C., where investigators are working to determine what types of usable information it contains.
Cox Media Group
