This undated photo provided by TOTE Maritime shows the cargo ship, … Though it missed USA landfall, it still caused major devastation to Bahamas, and was blamed for the disappearance of the El Faro.
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The US Navy tugboar Apache is looking for the wreck.
Lashawn Rivera was a crew member aboard the El Faro.
The El Faro went missing on October 1 during the powerful hurricane. They were among 28 American crew members; five others were from Poland.
No survivors and few signs of the ship have been found in the weeks since – a stray life preserver, a badly damaged lifeboat and one body in a survival suit that Coast Guard officials could not identify.
The NTSB said if the downed vessel is confirmed to be the El Faro, a video camera will begin documenting the ship and the debris.
The ship, captained by Michael Davidson, 53, of Windham, left Jacksonville, Florida, for San Juan, Puerto Rico, on September 29 on its regular weekly run as Tropical Storm Joaquim was turning into a powerful hurricane near the Bahamas.
HANDOUT/EPA The wreckage believed to be the El Faro, a container ship, has been found at a depth of 15,000 feet.
The discovery followed an earlier, failed attempt by the Apache to detect pings from El Faro’s voyage data recorder by using equipment called a towed pinger locator.
The NTSB said the USNS Apache crew located the wreckage at 1:36 pm ET during the fifth of 13 planned search line surveys. It’s expected to take about two weeks to complete these operations, but the NTSB says it could take longer.
It may take 15 days in ideal weather conditions for the site investigation, which includes recovering the ship’s data recorder, the NTSB said.
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The El Faro was scheduled for retirement from Caribbean duty and for new retrofitting for service between the West Coast and Alaska, company officials have said.
