A survey of the finding will be made with a deep-ocean remotely operated vehicle, possibly as early as Sunday, officials said. The ship had 33 crew members, and it was headed to Puerto Rico when it encountered heavy seas when Joaquin became a hurricane.
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The ship appears to be upright and in one piece, unreleased sonar images show.
Facebook, WJXT The cargo ship capsized during its route through Hurricane Joaquin, killing all 33 crew members on board. Debris had washed up last week in the Bahamas, leading searchers to believe they were looking in the right area.
The 790-foot El Faro was reported missing east of the Bahamas, according to the Coast Guard.
The El Faro, which was bound for Puerto Rico from Jacksonville, Florida.
TOTE Maritime will delay retrofitting its roro/container ship Midnight Sun to run on liquefied natural gas (LNG) due to the sinking of the El Faro earlier this month, LNG World Shipping reports. The Coast Guard searched for the boat for days before the NTSB contracted the U.S. Navy to take over the search.
The bureau, often called ABS, keeps virtual libraries of information about ship designs and conditions as vessels like the 40-year-old El Faro age. The most powerful winds of a hurricane are usually in the eye wall.
The pinger had never been detected and its battery was expected to have died already, but people familiar with the search process had held out hope the vessel would be found.
If the vessel is confirmed to be the missing El Faro, the ROV will be outfitted with a video camera and will start the documentation of the vessel. A complete investigation of the underwater site could take as long as 15 days.
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A US Navy ship using sonar equipment has now located a vessel at a depth of 15,000ft.
