El Faro Cargo Ship: New Debris Found In Search for Sunken Vessel and Survivors

Latest updates for the search for the sunken ship and 33 crew members.

ByABC News
October 6, 2015, 3:24 PM

— -- The Coast Guard just released new pictures of debris found during today's search for survivors from the sunken cargo ship El Faro.

The three photos that the agency shared, via their official Twitter account, show a large piece of metal and another piece of unidentifiable debris. The third photo shows how hard it is to spot the debris from above, as scattered specks of debris are difficult to spot in the ocean.

PHOTO: This image was posted to the United States Coast Guard Southeast Twitter account on Oct. 6, 2015 with the text, "#HappeningNow @USCGSoutheast Photos of debris from the #ElFaro search area."
This image was posted to the United States Coast Guard Southeast Twitter account on Oct. 6, 2015 with the text, "#HappeningNow @USCGSoutheast Photos of debris from the #ElFaro search area."
PHOTO: This image was posted to the United States Coast Guard Southeast Twitter account on Oct. 6, 2015 with the text, "#HappeningNow @USCGSoutheast Photos of debris from the #ElFaro search area."
This image was posted to the United States Coast Guard Southeast Twitter account on Oct. 6, 2015 with the text, "#HappeningNow @USCGSoutheast Photos of debris from the #ElFaro search area."

The search for the 33 crew members and any perishable evidence from the scene continued today as the National Transportation Safety Board launched its go-team to Florida today.

The NTSB investigators are tasked with collecting any perishable evidence first, but they will also be looking at the logs, maintenance records, and the fitness of crew and captain, just as they do in plane or train crashes, officials said today.

They also hope to recover the data recorder that was on board.

The president of the company that owned the boat, which sent a distress signal Thursday morning and has not been heard from since, said that the captain indicated that he was aware of the conditions near Hurricane Joaquin.

Phil Greene, the president and CEO of Tote Services, which owned El Faro, said that the captain explained that he understood the storms track and had a sound plan going forward, enabling to pass around the storm with comfort.

It is unclear to them how long the vessel may have been disabled before communications received a call Thursday morning, but Greene said typically a crew will work to restore the propeller and that process can either be done quickly or take several hours.

PHOTO: Executives from TOTE, Inc. hold a press conference about about the missing cargo ship El Faro outside the Seafarer's International Union hall in Jacksonville, Fla., Oct. 4, 2015.
Phil Greene, President of TOTE Services & CEO, left, and Tim Nolan, President of TOTE Maritime Puerto Rico, right, listen as Anthony Chiarello, President & CEO, TOTE, Inc. speaks about about the missing cargo ship El Faro outside the Seafarer's International Union hall in Jacksonville, Fla., Oct. 4, 2015.

"I think what is regrettable in this is the fact that the vessel [El Faro] did become disabled in the path of the storm and that is what led to ultimately the tragedy," Greene said at a news conference Monday night.

"Regrettably, he suffered a mechanical problem with his main propulsion system, which left him in the path of the storm," Greene said, according to the Associated Press. "We do not know when his engine problems began to occur, nor the reasons for his engine problems."

The Coast Guard search, which will be run separately from the NTSB investigation, continued overnight into this morning. All told, the Coast Guard has searched an area larger than 160,574 square nautical miles, and area larger than California.

PHOTO: In this aerial photo, homes are seen under the floodwaters caused by Hurricane Joaquin in the Southern area of Long Island, Bahamas, Monday, Oct. 5, 2015.
In this aerial photo, homes are seen under the floodwaters caused by Hurricane Joaquin in the Southern area of Long Island, Bahamas, Monday, Oct. 5, 2015. Joaquin unleashed heavy flooding as it roared through sparsely populated islands in the eastern Bahamas last week, as the Coast Guard searched for crew members of the U.S. container ship El Faro which they concluded sank near the Bahamas during the storm.

There were 33 crew members on board when the ship sank, and so far there has only been one known fatality, though that individual has not been identified.

Capt. Mark Fedor, the Coast Guard chief of response, said Monday that they had found one emergency rescue suit that had "unidentifiable" human remains.

Fedor said that the rescuers were being called to other reports of signs of life, so after checking that the individual was deceased, they moved on in hopes of saving someone else, Fedor said during a news conference.

PHOTO: A candlelight vigil was held at the Fishermen's Memorial in Rockland Harbor for Dylan Meklin, 23, of Rockland, and Danielle Randolph, 34, also of Rockland, Monday, Oct. 5, 2015.
A candlelight vigil was held at the Fishermen's Memorial in Rockland Harbor for Dylan Meklin, 23, of Rockland, and Danielle Randolph, 34, also of Rockland, Monday, Oct. 5, 2015. The pair are among four Mainers and 29 other souls who were aboard El Faro, a cargo ship which is believe to have sunk in the path of Hurricane Joaquin.

"We needed to quickly move to other reports of life," Fedor said.

ABC News' Rachel Katz and David Kerley contributed to this report.