NTSB: El Faro's voyage data recorder cannot be recovered during current mission

The investigative team on the research vessel Atlantis who located the El Faro's voyage data recorder Tuesday said it will not be possible to recover the voyage data recorder during its current mission, the National Transportation Safety Board said Wednesday.

Because the VDR is close to the mast and other obstructions, El Faro's VDR cannot be recovered with the equipment currently on the Atlantis.

"Now that we have been able to see just how the VDR is oriented relative to the mast structure, it's clear that we're going to need specialized deep-water salvage recovery equipment in order to bring it up," said Brian Curtis, Acting Director of the NTSB Office of Marine Safety, in a release. "Extracting a recorder capsule attached to a four-ton mast under 15,000 feet of water presents formidable challenges, but we're going to do everything that is technically feasible to get that recorder into our lab."

There is not a confirmed timetable on when the VDR will be retrieved, however, the NTSB said investigators are hopeful that the mission can be completed in the coming months.

The discovery of the VDR renewed the hope for the families of the 33 crew members who died on board El Faro.

"We believe this black box holds some answers," said pastor Robert Green, who lost his son LaShawn on El Faro. "I knew this day had come, we'd been praying about it."

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