Coast Guard: Captain 'Misjudged' Hurricane That Ended Up Killing All Aboard

A new coast guard report is showing just what happened to the Cargo Ship El Faro, which sank two years ago and killed all 33 aboard.

In releasing the report, Capt. Jason Neubauer says the Coast Guard would have sought to revoke the license of the cargo ship's captain if he had survived.

Neubauer said at a news conference Sunday in Jacksonville that El Faro Capt. Michael Davidson "was ultimately responsible for the vessel, the crew and its safe navigation." 

Neubauer, who chaired the Coast Guard investigation, says Davidson "misjudged the path of Hurricane Joaquin and overestimated the vessel's heavy weather survivability while also failing to take adequate precautions to monitor and prepare for heavy weather."

Says Nuebauer of the capitain: "he failed to understand the severity of the situation" even when told the hurricane was intensifying.

The Coast Guard report also named other factors in the disaster.

Neubauer says the ship's owner, TOTE Maritime Inc., had not replaced a safety officer, spreading out those duties among other managers, and had violated regulations regarding crew rest periods and working hours. 

The Coast Guard says it will seek civil actions against TOTE but no criminal penalties as there was no criminal intent.

The El Faro was heading from Jacksonville to Puerto Rico on that fateful night.


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