Feds: Wreckage Believed to be El Faro Cargo Ship Located

PHOTO COUTESY : MASSACHUSETTS MARITIME ACADEMY
Photo of Keith Griffin, 33, a 2005 graduate of the Massachusetts Maritime Academy in Buzzards Bay. Griffin is among 33 crew members on board a cargo ship that went missing off the Bahamas during Hurricane Joaquin

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board says in a statement that a search team has found the wreckage of a vessel believed to be the cargo ship El Faro, which went missing with 33 crewmembers on Oct. 1 during Hurricane Joaquin.

The federal agency says a search team aboard a U.S. Navy ship using sonar believes it located the ship at about 15,000 feet around its last known position. It says the identity of the wreck must still be confirmed with a deep ocean remotely operated vehicle.

The statement says the sophisticated sonar system detected the wreckage about 1:36 p.m. EDT Saturday.

Massachusetts Maritime Academy graduates Keith Griffin, 33, and Jeffrey Mathias, 44, were among the crew.

Griffin was a native of Winthrop and graduated from the Academy in 2005. Mathias was from Kingston and graduated in 1996.

The 790-foot-long El Faro’s captain called in before the vessel disappeared saying the ship had lost its engine power during its voyage from Jacksonville to San Juan, Puerto Rico.