The National Transportation Safety Board announced Wednesday that their lab has retrieved 26 hours of information from the data recorder of the cargo ship the El Faro.
All 33 crew members died when the El Faro sank off the coast of the Bahamas last October, including four crew members from Maine.
When the data recorder was retrieved from the ocean floor Aug. 8, National Transportation Safety Board officials cautioned it was unclear how much information it would contain. But on Wednesday, the NTSB announced the recorder captures the ship’s captain notifying personnel on shore of the El Faro’s critical condition as it sailed during Hurricane Joaquin.
It also contains audio of the captain sounding the alarm to abandon ship the morning on Oct. 1. Ten minutes later, the recording ends.
The captain was among four crew members from Maine, all graduates of Maine Maritime Academy.
The NTSB says it’s unknown how long it will take to develop a final transcript of the data recorder’s audio.
