BOSTON, May 5 (Reuters) – The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board hopes to get well the voyage knowledge recorder from the cargo ship El Faro, which sank throughout a hurricane killing all 33 crew on board, over the following two to a few months, an company official mentioned on Thursday.

A surveillance journey to the positioning the place the ship sank final 12 months, some 15,000 toes (4,600 meters) under sea degree off the Bahamas, pinpointed the situation of the recorder on April 26.

It ought to comprise navigational knowledge and the final 12 hours of audio on the ship’s bridge, Brian Curtis, performing director of the Office of Marine Safety on the NTSB, informed reporters. He spoke after the voyage to find the recorder returned to port in Massachusetts.

“We know where it is but it is still a tall challenge. That voyage data recorder is in the middle of the ocean under 15,000 feet of water,” Curtis informed reporters on the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute in Falmouth, Massachusetts. “We would like to get out there over the next several months, two to three months.”

The 790-foot (241-meter) El Faro, owned by Sea Star Line LLC and operated by TOTE Services, went down off the Bahamas on Oct. 1 whereas on a cargo run between Florida and Puerto Rico. It was the worst cargo delivery catastrophe involving a U.S.-flagged vessel in additional than three many years.

It might take time to extract knowledge from the recorder as a consequence of its lengthy immersion, Curtis mentioned, noting that the system was designed to face up to the strain of being submerged underneath as a lot as 20,000 toes (6,100 meters) of water.

“We’re much more optimistic today from the work we’ve done,” Curtis mentioned. “It can only be a benefit to the investigation.”

In his ultimate transmissions, El Faro’s captain reported that the ship was shedding propulsion and taking over water.

Company executives have mentioned the choice to try the voyage and set the ship’s route, regardless of the hazards posed by a extreme storm, had been the duties of the captain, who went down along with his ship.

(Reporting by Scott Malone; Editing by Tom Brown)

(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2016.