What's next in the El Faro investigation?

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A total of 50 witnesses between the first and second round of hearings have testified so far in the investigation to find out why El Faro sank with 33 lives on board.

The chairman of the Marine Board of Investigation, Capt. Jason Neubauer, said there are some issues that came out during this session that he wants to address.

Neubauer didn’t go into specifics but he said it has to do with past crew members.

At the start of every hearing Neubauer made sure to mention the main goal of the hearings.

“To really ensure this doesn't happen again,” said Neubauer.

This time we heard from two former TOTE employees, one of whom left the company following an incident involving illegal drugs allegedly being smuggled onto one of El Faro’s sister ships.

Neubauer said you can expect to hear from more former TOTE employees in the next round of hearings which is something the families also wanted to see.

“There are certainly some issues that arose during this second round that I want to address. We are still identifying witnesses,” said Neubauer.

Neubauer said they have thousands of documents to review and they’re still getting leads via an email account they’ve set up specifically for this investigation.

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Families and investigators both hope data will be recovered from the black box, which has been located, that will lead them to key evidence to analyze for the next round of hearings.

But Neubauer said seeing the families’ faces every day is fueling this investigation.

“Once you see the toll that it takes you just never want it to happen again,” said Neubauer.

There will be a third round of hearings, regardless of whether information can be recovered from the black box.

If the board is able to gather all the facts it needs, the fact find mission will close after the third round and the analysis and recommendation phase will begin.  A date has not been set yet for the next hearings.

The NTSB and the Marine Board of Investigation will independently come up with their own reports on what they believe happened as well as recommendations to prevent it in the future.

Cox Media Group