The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) confirmed Monday that wreckage discovered on the ocean floor near the Bahamas over the weekend is in fact the sunken U.S. cargo ship El Faro.
According to a message posted to the NTSB’s official Twitter page, the agency will continue to survey the area and the cargo ship’s wreckage, which sank near the islands earlier this month after being caught up in Hurricane Joaquin, killing all 33 crew members on board.
On Saturday, a search team using sophisticated sonar equipment on board the USNS Apache discovered the wreckage at a depth of about 15,000 feet (4,570 meters) in the vicinity of El Faro’s last known position, which was about 35 nautical miles (64 kilometers) northeast of Crooked Island.
The agency had already said it was confident that the wreckage was the El Faro, but a deep ocean remotely operated vehicle called CURV 21 was deployed to survey and confirm the identity of the wreckage. The wreckage of the ship is in an upright position and in one piece.
A total of 33 crew members, including 28 Americans and 5 Polish nationals, were on board the 735-foot ro-ro cargo ship that was carrying 391 containers. All are presumed to have been killed.
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