Day 4: Coast Guard hearing on sinking of El Faro

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The Coast Guard Marine Board hearing on the sinking of El Faro for the past two days have ended past 6:30 p.m., and and Wednesday is expected to be the same.

The witness Tuesday night wasn’t finished being questioned, so he is due back Wednesday morning. After witness Capt. David Flaherty there are three more witnesses expected for the day.

The American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) attorney will continue to question Flaherty about the Alternate Compliance Program, which is the inspection protocol El Faro was under. There are a lot of deficiencies within that program, as Action News Jax reporter Lorena Inclan reported Tuesday and during the last round of hearings.

Next up is Capt. Phil Anderson and Capt. Edward Walker Jr., who will present on the National Cargo Bureau Report.

Then, Mark Gay, who was the former chief engineer of El Faro, is expected to testify about the VDR contents, engineering ops and lube oil issues. The lube oil issues is especially important because we know that both of El Faro’s lube oil service pumps needed maintenance and that it was supposed to be addressed during the dry dock, but never happened.

Action News Jax is following the story. Watch Action News Jax and follow us on Twitter @ActionNewsJax for the latest. 

Cox Media Group