The Coast Guard investigation into the sinking of the container ship El Faro, resulting in the death of the captain and all 32 members of the crew two years ago in a 150-mph hurricane in the Bahamas, cast a wide net of error covering all the parties involved – the captain, the crew and the ship’s owner.
Calling the tragedy “one of the worst maritime disasters in U.S. history,” the Coast Guard’s 199-page report said the captain fatally “failed to understand the severity of the situation, even when the watch standers warned him the hurricane was intensifying.” The owner, according to the report, “did not ensure the safety of marine operations,” while the crew’s “complacency” and “lack of training” also contributed to the sinking.
Among its many recommendations, the Coast Guard also said that all Personal Flotation Devices on oceangoing commercial vessels be outfitted with a Personal Locator Beacon (PLB). This is particularly relevant to owners of cruising powerboats who plan to go offshore, who may want to follow up by attaching a PLB to all the life jackets on board. An ACR PLB starts at $244.95 at West Marine.
In the El Faro disaster, the ship’s EPIRB was activated and transmitted an emergency signal, the Coast Guard said, but the unit was old, it malfunctioned and it did not contain a GPS, so NOAA satellites could not triangulate the ship’s position. PLBs are much smaller than EPIRBs and have a shorter battery life, but they do transmit GPS information immediately.
For more on the PLB recommendation, read the first story, below. For more on the El Faro sinking, read the second.
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/article176430476.html
